
.■•^, 



rHE INDIAN RUNNER 




DUCK 



BOOK 



(The MUiie (f^uea 



c. s. valeint-ine: 



CONTENTS 



1. Some Guesses and Some Facts about Indian Runners 

2. English History, Views, and Standard 

3. The Present Show OuaHtyof American Standard Indian Runi-ers 

4. Comparison of Englisli and American Types 

5. Selling and Cookery Value of Indian Runner Eggs 

6. System and Forethought in Making a Market 

7. The Indian Runners Making History 

8. Best All-Arotmd Handling of the Breeding Stock 

9. Some Spurious and Some Genuine Indian Runners 

10. The Future of the Indian Runners in America 

11. Indian Runner Ducks and Farm Breeding 

12. The Newer Variety, the White Indian Runner 



^,lCLlZt.>r..U, 



THE INDIAN RUNNER 
DUCK BOOK. 



The Only Authoritative American Book 
about this Marvelous Egg Machine. 



"They say she did! " 

"Who did?" 

"The Indian Runner Duck. ' 

"Did what?" 

"Laid 320 eggs in one year.'' 



RIDGE WOOD, N. J. 

\\ H. VALETsTTIiN i: 

19 11 



4^' 



\ 



^ 



COPYRIGHT. 1911 BY 

H. a C. S. VALENTINE 



^ CI.A2S08SG 






Some Guesses and Some Facts About 

INDIAN RUNNERS 



CHAPTER 1 

1 tl'.ink it was about 1904 or 1905 that the first important Htera- 
turc conceniin,^^ the Indian Runner Ducks was pubhshcd in this country. 
At about this time, t^ood articles, deaUng with the wonderful qualities 
of this new breed were published in at least three of our jjoultry ]jeriod- 
icals. Soon, breeders, here and there, began to try them in a somewhat 
gingerly wa_\\ as though rather expecting a gold brick. The great serv- 
ice which this early literature did the breed was to call public attention 
strongly to it, through what then seemed the exorbitant claims made 
for these birds as layers. 

After a few years Mr. Irving Cook took up this breed, advertising 
continuously and rather strikingly. As he began the work \vhen young 
and enthusiastic, and, later, gave his entire strength to his Indian Run- 
ner business the Runners soon found themselves in the inidst of a 
"booin." But even before him several men who still breed the Runners 
were at work with this breed. 

As soon as the breed began to attract keen attention, some breeders 
who wished to improve it in every possible way began to make inquiries 
as to its origin. One early breeder who made every effort to get the 
true history about this time reports that even then "it seemed to be a 
matter of surmise. All the writers' ideas on the subject seemed to be 
vague, and many conflicting statements were made." Some of the 
causes for this haziness and conflict of statement I have been able to 
run down. 

3 



Much misconception arose through an accident. The first two 

detailed descriptions of the breed which I noted in American pubhca- 

tions were from writers across the big waters, one in New Zealand, the 

other in Ireland. Birds in these countries would naturally have come 

from England, and be of English type. H. DeCourcy's article was so 

straightforward and sensible, yet so conservative that it seemed to give 

the ]niblic good ground for confidence in the breed. Unfortunately, this 

early article gave the West Indies as the original home of the Indian 

Runner. This statement has been copied by many, while others have 

given a widely different origin. In a recent circular, the matter was 

disposed of in this way: "Coming originally from the West Indies, the\' 

are a cross of Rouen and Wild Mallard." Of the three supposed facts 

given here (West Indian origin, Rouen blood, Mallard blood,) probabl\' 

not one could be prove i, though the last might have some credibilitx' 

through the tact that most breeds of ducks are descended from the 

Mallard. 

I have long suspected that the DeCourcy statement, as printed in 

this country, was an office, or "proof" error. Trying to get at the facts. 

I wrote to Mr. DeCourcy in October, igio, inquiring if this were not the 

case. The reply w^as directly to the point: "If my article says 'West' 

it was a misprint, — or perhaps a clerical error of mine." As the real. 

native home of the Indian Runner has long been believed to be the 

East Indies, it is quite easy to see how such an error could arise through 

the misplacement of a single letter. At no other period except when the 

breed was just being introduced could such an error have worked so 

much mischief as to the f^cts. 

Among the early breeders here were Mr. Cook, Mr. Fay Davis, 
Fhnt, Mich., M. V. Decker and, in 1900, A. J. Hallock. Mr. W, Delano's 
name has also been given me as an early breeder, but I have been un- 
able to get any information from this source. It will be admitted with- 
out question, I think, that our one reliance for the early history of the 
breed in this country must be the statements of the earliest breeders. 

While the "West Indies story "2 was going the rounds, with no one 

4 



contra Aictin; it, and gaining strength through repetition, the British 
hirds were being quietly bred for some time, before the pubhc began to 
awake to the value of the Runners. The Davids brothers, of Kansas, 
began about 1902. Davis in 1897, Hallock in 1900. These three. I know, 
had their birds from Great Britain. I think there is no room for doubt 
that all the other early breeders had stock from the same source, either 
direct or thnnigh contemporary breeders. Since it appears that the 
earliest specimens here came from British sources, it seems to be onh' 
crdinary common-sense to take British testimony as to their origin. 
The English early history - i.s far as it is history, and not supposition, at 
least — should be admitted to be the true history. At all events, the 
guesses and '■imj)ressions" of later breeders here, have abs')lutely no 
value. 

During the present season not less than 160 breeders have been 
advertising Indian Runners. There may have been more, btit I have a 
list showing this number. Seven years ago. Reliable Poultry Journal — 
for years a favorite medium with the duck breeders — carried only two 
Indian Runner advertisements in May in the Classified list. The Run- 
ners have appeared almost wholly in the classified lists; since they seem 
to have been almost universally welcomed as an accessory to other 
breeds of fancy fowls. At all events, they have sold so easily that onlv 
classified advertising has been necessary, apparently. 

One of the two who were thus advertising in 1903 was Cook. In 
1906 he blossomed out as the breeder of "the only true fawn and white 
colors, and the world's heaviest laying strain." He had, then, five com- 
petitors in the classified column. Remembering that this was onlv four 
years ago, we may well be amazed at the advance which the Runners 
have so recently made in public favor. According to these figures, the 
.fawn and white type became "the only true" just about five years ago. 
It may be remembered, also, that this was the year the Standard which 
breeders have followed for the last five years, appeared. 

It would seem that, even in Great Britain, the Runners were not 
well and widely known so very much longer than they have been known 

5 



here. In 1893, four years before Mr. Davis received his first birds, a 
book on poultry for profit was put out by a Britisher who had previous- 
ly written another poultry book, and who might have been thought to 
be fairly well posted. He mentions only three breeds of ducks, but 
takes occasion to remark: "It is much to be regretted that no steps have 
been taken to breed laying strains of ducks." 

The history of the Runner in England, however, is easily to be 
followed back for about twenty-five years. If it becomes hazy as we 
go farther back, this need not surprise the Yankees who have managed 
so to conceal their tracks in something like fifteen years that in a new 
book advertised as the best in America, and giving sixteen entire lines 
to the Runners, it is plainly stated that the origin of these ducks cannot 
be traced authentically. But a Rouen cross is admitted. Was that 
Rouen cross a Yankee contribution ? 

If, as no one doubts, the Indian Runner Ducks came to us from 
England, it would seem, indeed, the part of common-sense, and of cour- 
tesy no less, to accept the story of their origin as presented by the best 
and oldest English breeders. American cleverness, however, professes 
to have discovered that the Britishers, no matter how decent people 
thev be, are presumably equivocating about the origin of the Indian 
Runner duck. 

The juxtaposition of a quasi-Yankee head and a Belgic head has 
brought up a new story, to the effect that the Britishers did not get 
their Runners from East India or any other old place whence old sea- 
captains come out of obscurity, but just across the channel in Belgiuin ! 
But they have carelessly omitted to tell us how it happened that when 
those Belgian ducks flew (?) across the channel, they happened to light 
in County Cumberland, away off to the north-west, as far as possible 
from Belgium. Frankly, I think this story very far-fetched. For, the 
English certainlv could not be ignorant of the existence of these thous- 
ands of Belgian ducks. If they were really the same thing as the Indian 
Runners it would be well known on both sides of the channel, in which 
case the only possible conclusion would be that the English breeders 



have deliberately clouded their origin, and lied about it for these scores 
of years. I do not believe fair minded Americans wish to support this 
unworthy view. 

Some information so definite and detailed that it would seem as 
though it must be correct, has rece.itly come to me through an English 
Correspondent. I have not had suthcient time since to ferret out the 
treatise giving this information, to which my correspondent refers. His 
letter reads as follows: "The earliest history of the fowl, (T. R. Duck) 
that can be gathered is that they were closely associated with the anc- 
ient Hindus in India looo years B. C. The bird appealed to them through 
its fighting qualities. Thus it was that the fowd was first domesti- 
cated, not for its food value so much as its sporting qualities. It was 
principal] V located in the Punjaub, Northern India; its culture spread 
over India, then distributed through the islands of the Indian -Ocean and 
into China, and as civilization increased and commerce and colonization 
commenced it gradually worked its way through the Malay archipelago 
into Persia, and thence into the European countries. I have not been 
able to find the treatise I have somewhere on this subject or would have 

sent it to you," 

I do not give these as absolutely the facts, because I have, at the 
present, no other basis for it than the memory of a single correspondent. 
But. in view of the interest in the matter, and the many guesses, it 
seemed well to give this, also, a place. 



English History 
VIEWS AND STANDARD 



CHAPTER II 

After we trace back to a certain period, or, possibly, forty years 
or so, the history of the Indian Runner in England becomes somewhat 
hazy. English breeders say that the earliest literature on the breed — 
or, at least, that which goes farthest back, is a Httle treatise by John 
Donald, who lived in County Cumberland, where the breed was first 
known. In this book, Mr. Donald states that the Indian Runners were 
brought to England by a sea captain, about sixty years before his book 
was written. H. DeCourcy, of Ireland, a writer whom we know quite 
well in America — thinks it is now twenty years since he first saw this 
(undated) book. This would make it eighty years since the breed first 
made any history in England that is now remembered — a period so re- 
mote that none would now be alive who had personal knowledge of the 
facts and of its introduction and earliest history. 

One of the English treatises, "The Indian Runner," was written 
by Jacob Thomlinson, who first knew this duck in County Cumberland 
He refers to Mr. Donald's (earlier) work, and also to a brief treatise by 
Mr. Henry Digby, giving credit to these men for all items not within his 
own, personal knowledge. The illustrations in the Thomlinson pam- 
phlet are from drawings by Mr. J. W. Walton, Secretary of the present 
Indian Runner Duck Club. "They give," says Mr. Thomlinson, "a, 
clear insisfht of what a true Runner should and should not be." 



The models from which these pictures were drawn "have won 
prizes at the great National Shows." They were intended to be used as 
"a guide to both old and new fanciers, to obtain a more uniform idea of 
type and standard." 

Mr. Thomlinson's own .knowledge of the breed reached back thirty 
years, but his treatise was also undated. However, he gives us a point 
to rest on by saying that he first took "particular notice" of these birds 
in 1884, when one duck made for him a record of 180 eggs. As this 
"completely overshadowed" other breeds, it was the foundation of Mr. 
ThomHnson's vital interest in the Indian Runners. 

The peculiar, running gait, it is thought, seems proof of the Ind- 
ian Runners being survivors of the fittest, long ago, in a barren region 
lacking in vegetation and abundant insect life, where the usual type of 
waddling duck would have died from want of sufficient sustenance, 
through sheer inability to forage so fast and so far. Tradition, vague 
rumor, or what not, gave rise to a belief that the original home of these 
birds was the East Indies. 

From the fact that Mr. Donald was a resident of County Cum- 
berland, the original seat of Indian Runner culture in England, it seems 
to follow that he is most likely to be right as to their origin, and it was 
to him that the earlier English breeders looked very largely for infor- 
mation. 

The power of the true Indian Runner to stamp its color and 
marking, in the case of a cross, is taken as evidence of very long fixation 
of its characteristics in the native state. Eighty per cent of such prog- 
env, it is said will favor the Runner, especially in characteristic color. 
This varies considerably above the proportion given by Mendel's law. 

English breeders seem willmg to allow that the long neglect has 
made it impossible that many types should not appear in various parts 
of the Island; for, the original blood must have been largely tainted dur- 
ing the slowness of the nation to recognize the peculiar value of the 
breed, and to place it early under the "care of some organization which 
would watch out for the preservation of the most valuable and vital 

9 



characteristics. Like the Rhode Island Red in this country, the breed 
Iiad a sadly neglected youth. 

Quite a number of importations have in later years, been made 
into this country from the flocks of Mr J W. Walton, "'Honorable Sec- 
retary" of the Indian Runner Duck Club of England. Mr. Walton says 
that the best birds have always been in a very few hands. He wrote 
me. personally, that even in England "breeders, exhibitors and judges 
fell into nearly every possible trouble with Indian Runners and reduced 
them from an outstanding and most distinctive bird to a common type, 
small, cross-bred duck with fairly even markings. That was the Exhi- 
bition Runner (?) of eight or nine years ago. loo 'jof American (Stan- 
dard-bred) Runners and 99 % of English are wrong in shape, and position 
of legs. Color without type is of no value " 

Mr Walton has also said that it was ciuite certain that man}' 
earlier judges of Indian Runners "had no acquaintance with the genuine 
Runner " It was under this strained situation that the Indian Runner 
Duck Club in England took up the work, and formed a Standard calcu- 
lated to preserve the distinctiveness of this most remarkable breed. The 
birds illustrated in English poultry journals at about this time, according 
to Mr. Walton, "showed strong evidence of Mallard blood." 

It was within the decade before the English breeders found their 
bearings that most of our earlier importations were made. This shows 
how strong was the probability that many of these earlier importations 
were of mixed blood. It was about or just previous to this time that the 
Indian Runner Duck Chib intervened to save the Runners from extinc- 
tion as to their most distinctive characteristics It superseded the Stan- 
dard formed by Mr. Donald and Mr. Digby, (with which there had been 
dissatisfaction for some time) by one better designed "to retain the 
valuable utility and artistic qualities" of the breed. A part of its object, 
as stated, was to keep the exhibition of the Runner "free from dishonor- 
able and fradulent practices. " 

In order to get at the English ideal of shape, it may be well to 
give a word to "the old, cod, soda-water bottle." This bottle, whose 

10 



form is given as a general model to wcrk toward, tapered toward each 
end. The taper is gradual, in the bird, from the thighs back Mention 
is made of the funnel-like expansion where neck passes into body The 
accepted angle of carriage is up to sixty-five degrees when the bird is 
traveling, and from this to seventy-five degrees when alert. The neck 
is a strong feature, the head and neck together carrying thirty points 
Length, thinness, and fineness are especially demanded. In these 
points, the great majority of American Rvmners fail, breeders seeming 
to overlook the added beauty and grace given by a slender neck 

I shall not trv to give the English vStandard demands in their en- 
tirety, but will refer to those which need study, in view of the swinging 
away in type and color by the American Standard, and by the birds 
shown in America. The color demanded in contrast with the white is a 
fawn, rather warm and soft, sometimes expressed also as of "ginger 
color" a term which the American breeders have adopted, but which I 
have not seen in the American shows. The newest males shown here 
are decidedly of a pinkish, rather than ginger tone, a shade which carries 




Pen of selected descendants of nestlings shown in another cut. From the earlier 
importations, and bred to English Standard. Young stock. Mature coat 
was just completed. Seventeen weeks old. Will become more .'^lender 
with more age. 



directly toward the claret which is disqualified by the American Stand- 
ard. The color is required to be uniform, from surface to skin. 

The chief variations Lietween color-tones, from English and Amer- 
ican poi.its of view, is in the head and ramp of the drake and the body, 
fawn color and overlay on the shoulders. The last point is often stro ag- 
in color, the pencilings being rather distinct, but they are supposed to 
blend into a W3.rm fawn of the true shade desired, when seen from a 
short distance away. The trick in getting color on the English-bred 
Runner, is to get one tone a good ginger, and the other as near it as 
is possible, the outer portion being the lighter As this is the portion 
most visible on the breast and body, it gives the appearance of evenness, 
as soon as the new coat loses a little in strength of color. If too weak 
in color when the new coat is first donned, it will be washy in the ex- 
treme after a few weeks, and will well justify the term so often apphed 
to the lighter birds bred to American Standard, "a dirty white." This 
loss of color is one of the worst things that can befall a true Runner. 1 
am loath to use the word "true" at all in speaking of the Runners, since 
it has been so juggled and made to mean such widely different things 
"Genuine" might, perhaps, be a better term. 

The full stern, of the upturning, Pekin type, is considered a de- 
fect, although this cannot be allowed to count strongly against females 
that have laid one or two seasons. The rump of the male and its head 
may be of a dull, rather bronzy green. 

The English Standard lays emphasis on the point that type must 
receive greater consideration than color or markings. Short, thick necks, 
squat specimens, smallness at the expense of the long shape, are decided 
defects. Slate and dark red in drakes are not favored. 

It should be perfectly plain to any normal mind that the English 
type of Indian Runner, being so much folder] than anything in America, 
justly lays claim to the title of "The True Indian Runner." There are 
many breeders in America who are breeding as nearly as possible to the 
English (genuine) Standard, possibly yielding a very little on color in 



otdet not to have a bird too widely different from the one demanded bv 
the American Standard. Up to the present, (so convinced were manA" 
of our judges, even, that the American Standard was not requiring the 
true type) the English-bred birds have been able to get, in some instances 
very goad prizes, though not often the best Last year, such a male 
bird took second at Madison Square Garden. From what I hear, I judge 
that the ax is to be applied to such birds at future shows. 

"Whose birds was the American Standard made to fit ? " asked a 
corresponde it, suspiciously, not long ago. The only testimony given to 
the public on this point inheres in the advertisements of two of them, 
that ONLY their birds meet the requirements of the new revision. 

For months before the latest revision of the American Standard 
of Perfection, a sustained fight was made to educate the public, 
and incidentally, the Revision Committee, up to a knowledge of the real 
type of the genuine, Indian Runners, and of the injury the proposed 
action would be to the breeders of the English type, and to the breed. 
Perhaps a dozen breeders took part in this, one being a poultry judge. 
But the Standard had called for an entirely different type for so man^• 
years, that the Revisers were simply afraid to give any recognition to 
the breeders of the genuine Indian Runners. Indeed, it was scarcely to 
be expected that the Standard-makers would so publicly acknowledge 
a sustained error Moreover, the known custom in this country, with all 
breeds, of making the Standard to fit the aims and ideals of the greatest 
number of the more powerful breeders, stood in the way. It is no doubt 
true that there are more of the present breeders who favor the "plain'' 
type of solid fawn, with white, than of the breeders who favor the pen- 
ciled fawn type This penciled type is not insistently penciled, except 
when the feathers are first grown, but is rather dimly penciled in two 
shades so harmonious and so near together in tone that they gently blend 
into a color which appears as a solid color as the season advances. The 
cuts shown herewith, of birds soon after molting, will easily give proof 
of this. 

. ^3 



1 do not think there is, in the ranks cf the breeders of the orig- 
inal variety, any feehnsj^ of enmity toward the favored American type, 
in itself. But the feeling is very general I think I may say fairly, uni- 
versal — that the breed name belongs of right to the original type The 
other should have come in, if come it must, as a second variety^ with 
a variety name. It is precisely as though the Silver Penciled Wyandotte 
sliould attempt to push aside the original Silver Wyandot tc. and make 
msistent claim to being "the only true Wyandotte " Surely "shape 
makes the breed, color (only) the variety " Is it not so, breeders ? 

It is by no means impossible to rectifv this error, evea yet, since 
there are other revisions ahead And it is the great hope of those who 
are breeding really good Runners of the White-egg type, that our Stand- 
ard makers may undergo an operation for strabismus before the time of 
the next revision. We'd like them to see straight ! 



t4 



Present Show Quality of 
AMERICAN STANDARD INDIAN RUNNERS 



CHAPTER III 

The American Standard type of Indian Runners, as seen in the 
best shows, is not only a different type of bird from the EngHsh Runner, 
liut it is in the main decidedly different from tlie ideal which has, up to 
the present date of writing, beea pictured and described in the American 
Standard of Perfection The ideals of the breeders have been gradually 
changing, as to color, and the birds that win now are quite different in 
color from those that won a few years ago The allowance of gray as 
well as the preferred fawn, while possil)ly it seemed necessary at the 
beginning, has not worked to the good of the breed. A far larger pro- 
portion of males still come with gray breasts than would have been the 
case could the Standard have demanded, from the first, that fawn should 
be the one color, without the gray as an alternate 

I have studied much over the peculiar demands at some points 
of the American Standard of Perfection, in its dealing with Indian Run- 
ners. Its ideal pictures in the 1905 American Standard are near the de- 
mands for good Runners, as laid down by the English Standard. At 
two points in the description, however, the American demand swings 
quite away from the English. Where the latter calls for legs placed 
well back, and makes legs placed too wide apart a defect, the Americ- 
an Standard demands legs "set well apart." And whereas the Enghsh 
Standard calls for bronzy green on the head and rump of male the Stand- 

IS 



ard has demanded as the ideal, for the 5 years previcus to 19 10 a 
light fawn color, which must be even throughout the entire plumage, 
except where the white markings should be seen. 

The American demand for "light fawn" has now been modified 
to "fawn" and the color is really a peculiar, almost indescribable light 
pinky-brown. It is, without doubt, a beautiful color and very much ad- 
mired; but so much has shape been stibordinated to color-tone of the 
"fawn" that the winning birds at the great New York State Fair, in 
.September, 1910, showed nasty, white splotches in the fa wm spoiling the 
color-marking most decidedly. These birds bore virtually no resemblance 
to the ideal in the then Standard of Perfection, as to shape and carriage 
being low in carriage, beefy iii type, and, as one has described this type, 
"more like a Rouen than a Runner," although not so heavy as the former. 

In November, igio, I went to the earlier show held in New York, 
chiefly to study the Indian Runners. These picked birds were mainly 
very good in the even color now preferred for both sexes — ^really a hand- 
some pinkish fawn. Only a few were good in carriage; scarcely one had 
a fine neck; and fully thirty per cent were notably splashed with white 
in the fawn of the back A neck defect which breeders have not seem- 
ed to take into account (the proof being that it is so general) is that, the 
neck being already too short and thick, is made to look shorter and 
thicker b}^ having the dividing line between the colors too high. It is 
often cut squarely, but in about one-third the single specimens shown, 
there was only about an inch to an inch-and-a-half between the cheek 
marking and the fawn of the lower neck. The Walton ideal sketch 
shows the white on a slender neck and nearly five-eighths the length of 
the fawn marking on the side of the breast, at the point where it ex- 
tends entirely to the square cut in marking across the breast. This 
gives a widely difiFerent appearance to the bird. 

The illustrations of Indian Runners in the poultrv publications 
generally, have not been of a sort to furnish much of an ideal to breed- 
ers in general. There are a few birds of typical carriage in this country, 

16 



but they are still very few; I mean of those which will hold the carriage 
practically all the time The photographs from life commonly publishiCd, 
give httle hint of the Runner which the "Ideal" in the Standard has 
shown. The new Standard is to contain a new and improved "ideal 
Some vears ago, Mrs. Mabel Feint made a pencil sketch from life which 
was very good for the time, though a trifle too full in breast, not showing 
the straight under line of body which is typical of the real Runner, and 
which even the American Standard "Ideal" demands. This cut is still 
in use in some quarters The photographs I have seen, even up to the 
present time, have not been, as a rule, as good as Mrs. Feint's "Ideal." 
She was a breeder of Runners for some years, and the birds she carried 
are still bred as a distinct strain. In her time, these won over many of 
those from the more prominent breeders The American type of birds 
are claimed to be "sports" from birds imported from England. Inas- 
much as English breeders, for many of the earlier years, flirted with the 
solid-color will-o'-the-wisp, it would not be at all strange if some of the 
birds from England at that early date should throw sports But the 
better English l)reeders have long decried and regretted their waste of 
time, and the detriment thev worked the breed for a period Ijefore they 
learned to breed strictly to the typical color 

I doubt 'that it is possible, in this vear iqTo, tj buy of any Amer- 
ican breeder, birds that will hold their carriage all the time, except at 
strictly exhibition stock prices I think this is prove.i true, in the east, 
w here many of the earlier Indian Runner breeders wefe located, by the 
fact that so few really good one.s arc see.i, even at the mo."^t importan': 
shows 

One needs to handle Runners for some time, and learn their 
typical carriage and their habits of behavior at different ])erinds of 
growth not only, but at different stages, in order to criticis.? them 
fairly. Probabl}- it has occurred to very few that it is almost im- 
])ossiblc for a laying bird to hold her typical carriage and form. 
There is abundant reason for this, wdth the Runners. A single 1. 

■ 17 



Runner egg ready for exclusion, is likely to weigh three ounces, 
and the ducks are quite reasonably likely to lay six days out of 
seven, during at least a portion of the year. Prof. James E. Rice, by 
experiment, found that a color-fed hen deposited some fourteen 
layers in the formation of an egg, showing that the egg had been 
fourteeu days in growing from the pin-head ovule to the two-ounce 
product of average exclusion. If we may suppose a duck to be 14 
da}S in growing, an egg, from the beginning to its readiness for 
exclusion, and laying six eggs in a week, she must be carrying within 
her narrow, body, at one time, twelve eggs, of diminishing sizes 
from the three-ounce finished product, to the tiny, but enlarging 
ovule, of the egg cluster. It is, of course, impossible to conceive 
that such a weight of eggs should not change both the shape and 
the carriage of the female, for the time being. Thus it comes about 
that we have to speak of these birds as in "exhibition form" and 
•'laying form," while there is still another period of nearh- half a 
year, during which they eat so much that they appear rather logy, 
and assume the carriage of maturity only at intervals. This is 
during their growth toward maturity, and we need for this period a 
third term, such as "growing form," to describe them then. 

One of my correspondents who is very anxious for the true 
Indian Runner to become well known and well liked, rather re- 
gretted the fact that iMr. J. \V. Walton's pen pictures of ideal Run- 
ners were published in this country, since thev show such an exag- 
gerated type to American eyes that those buyers without experience 
would be dissatisfied with any average Runner that could now be 
sent them. I may say, however, that in my experience, no fowl 
ever sent out has giv^n such good, general satisfaction as the type 
of English Indian Runners now bred in this country. Xearly all 
the letters of acknowledgment which T receive, as well as those 
whicli other breeders have shown me, express the greatest satis- 
faction with the average birds. A short time ago, I saw one which 



read thus: "I have never received anything l^y express which gave 
me so much satisfaction and delight as the coop of Indian Runners 
you sent me." These were the average run of low priced birds, 
say at about two dollars each. 

There is a reason for this in the fact that, although but few of 
the Runners hold the distinctive carriage all the time, and, being few, 
are held for the high prices, }et the average Runner will almost 
invariably show ofif nicely Avhenever frightened, or excited or free 
lo run and pose. And I have ncxer known an\^ breed which seemed 
to possess so much of interest for its breeders, whether they were, 
or were not, finished fanciers. 

But, there is much more to the question of true type in In- 
dian Runners than has yet appeared in our survey. More and more, 
as the years pass, are fanciers falling into line on the declaration 
that no breed can survive long and prosper, even as a fancy fowl, 
unless it is first a capital, utility fowl. This may be called. I think, 
a foundation tenet of The Fancy at the present time. I'ew adver- 
tisers permit themselves to put forth any claims to trade without 
supporting them strongly with testimony and assertion as to the 
superior utility value of their breed, and espec'ally of their particular 
strain of that breed. Even the story of the superlative fancy value 
of the "$10,000 hen" must be buttressed by the statement that her 
]>rogeny lay at the rate of 83 eggs in four months; and is not this 
liy implication. 249 eggs a year, with chances of 250 in leap years? 

On the very day of this writing, I have read, from the pen of 
Mr. Robinson, one of our leading poultry editors, the statement 
that, as he sees it. the poultry business, except in such special lines 
as the growing of soft roasters and of ducks for market, is going- 
out of the hands of specialists into the hands of the farmers; and. it 
goes without saying, almost, that the Indian Runner, being a cham- 
jiion layer and a prolific breeder, v/ill soon cease to be of much use 
lo The Fancy, through sheer over-production, unless the farmers 

19 



awake very widely to its valufe. ' The Indian Runner must become — 
and that very soon — the farmer's duck. 

In the Runner camp, a rumble has been growinjo- for some 
little time. During 1910 it has risen almost to a roar. The Runner 
of the emasculated type called for by the American Standard of 
Perfection, although lovely to look upon for color, in its best estate, 
has a great weakness as a producer of eggs for market, in the fact 
that it lays a large proportion of green eggs (a few call them 
■'blue.") It does not need much argument, I tliink, to convince 
any one with an unbiased mind that the crystal-white egg produced 
i;y the English Standard Runner is far and away more desirable for 
a market egg than one tinted more or less' deeply with green. 

A card that came to me yesterday, written from the very 
center of the green-egg camp, gives a fair idea of the situation. One 
may read between the lines as to how the green-egg type has satis- 
fied this breeder. I quote literally: "Are your Indian Runners 
the kind that lay white eggs only? Will you sell them guaranteed 
to lay white eggs or refund the purchase price? Please quote price 
on SO eggs from * * * * white egg strain." 

A breeder of American Standard Runners, having had much 
trouble and complaint regarding the large output of green eggs, 
wrote to another asking counsel, and saying, among other things, 
that the green-egg type were not so good layers as the others. The 
attitude of the recipient of this letter is shown in a brief paragraph 
from the reply: "It is said in England fully 80% of the (so-called) 
Indian Runners have very little Indian Runner blood in them, and 
a still worse condition prevails here, because of our Standard. Ow- 
ing to this Standard, there are very few genuine Indian Runners 
to be found." 

This sweeping statement harks back to the fact that English 
breeders, as I have noted above, tried so hard to "improve" their 
Runners that they nearly ran them into the ground, and came near 



losing the real Runner completely. At i)resent, not onl}- in England, 
but in her colonies, the feeling of the better breeders against any 
admixture of outside l)lood is intense. In Australia, the birds that 
won in the great competition were English, Standard-bred Runners. 
I\Ir. Dunnicliffe. the secretary for the com]:»etitions, as I note else- 
where, told me pcrsonall}- that nothing else will be accepted in 
Australia. 



2t 



Comparison of 
ENGLISH and AMERICAN TYPES 



CHAPTER IV 

For a breed that is sweeping the country with such amazing 
swiftness, the Indian Runner has received far too Httle really criti- 
cal attention. It has been bred in England several times as many 
years as it has been noticed and bred here, and in both countries 
one craz€ of the average breeder seems to have been to modify it 
in order to get more size. This is folly, even from the utility point 
of view, for the minute you increase size } ou increase eating cajia- 
city, and eating capacity beyond what is needed to produce flesh and 
eggs is dead against economy in an animal that has a specific, great 
point, like the -egg-laying tendency of the Indian Runner. 

Many breeders of the Indian Runner have been calling atten- 
tion to the proud fact that Indian Runners won the Australian Con- 
test prize with a mar\-elous record, as announced a year ago. But 
the majority of them have not a shadow of right to use this as a 
talking point for their birds, since it was a far dilTerent bird from 
the American Standard Runner which made these records. 

Believing that this was the fact, I wrote, some time ago. to 
Mr. 13unnicliffe, Organizing Secretary, in connection with the 
Hawkesbury contests, asking him what kind of Runners were in 
these Australian contests. He very kindly wrote me the facts, which 
'uipported my belief. These are his exact words; "The Indian 



Runners kept in Australia have been bred from stoci< imported fron\ 
England. The English Standard is followed by all our poultry 
clubs and shows. As is the case elsewhere, there are people here 
who breed Rouen blood into them to improve the size, but any trace 
of this blood in them would knock them out in the shows In thv- 
matter of laying, we find that any infusion of Rouen blood depre- 
ciates them, and the best laying records have been put up by birds 
of pure, English blood, selected here for many }'ears for their lav- 
ing capacity." 

The American Indian Runner, being bred to our Standard, 
has been much modified. The distinctive Runner shape has been 
subordinated to color, the color lightened, the capacit}- for l)reeding 
true largely destroyed, and tlie \alue as a layer lessened, all in order 
to get a' plain contrast to the white, instead of a penciled one. Per- 
haps the new manufacture is prettier; since beauty is lagel}- a matter 
of opinion, I will not question that. r>ut we have lost three or four 
most valuable characteristics in getting it. The English breeders 
who at one period thoughtlessly risked all these to get size, have 
more excuse, since they thought this an economic advance. 

Within a few days, recently, I received two letters, both from 
strangers, on the lookout for white-egg Runners. One of them said 
that he had been buncoed, for his "fawn and white" ducks were 
all colors, many being white. The other wrote: "I got 100 eggs 

of . this spring, ordering white, but getting 

mixed colors and small eggs, and most of the ducklings were white. 

I sent to , and got fine layers of large, pale 

green and white eggs." One of the firms mentioned by this corre- 
spondent was a Chicago winner, the year he bought, and the other 
a firm that has had more write-ups and free readers ^nd puffs than 
most of the other well-known water-fowl breeders put together. 
And I call attention to the fact that there were tv/o distinct types, 
from these two dift'erent breeders of "fawns," into one, at least, 
of which white blood had been introduced ; and probably some into 

23 



th€ other also, but more carefully. Neither of them was of the true, 
white-egg type. 

There is oue specific point, viz.. length — about the genuine 
Runner, aside from the carriage, which I have not seen referred to in 
periodicals in this country, although the Standard does say that the 
birds shall be long and narrow. The long birds were frequently 
downed at New York in favor of those showing the light, even 
[awn, evenness seeming to be the chief item in a good Runner, from 
the American point of view, in addition to good carriage. Some 
of our show birds do have fine carriage, but a very large proportion 
of them in the yards of breeders have lost this through the out- 
crosses for color. 

The English Standard gives something definite to go on, .n 
stating what should- be considered "fairly good weights and 
lengths;" though it cautions that these must not count alone, but 
must be in connection with well balanced type. ■ It also recom- 
mends that judges see the birds on the run before making awards. 
But I think these "fair" lengths will oi^en the eyes of our breeders. 
They are: 25 to 30 inches for ducks, and 28 to 36 inches for the 
drakes. Runners, by the yard, as one might say ! 

The stern, too, is very different fr^m the P'^kin type so ofteti 
seen here in the winners. Birds that have laid for a considerable 
time do get heavier at the rear, but the true shape is quite light at 
the stern, tapering from the thighs to the tail. This, with the length 
and carriage gives a bird whose distinctiveness differentiates it from 
all other types the minute the eye falls on it. This, to my min<l, 
is what we want, especially as this is the heavy laying type in this 
breed, according to testimony. 

I have had, during this season, letters from two Indian Run- 
ner breeders, both of whom raise these birds by the hundreds, both 
of whom have the best birds going, of the light fawn type (tliat is. 
their stock is from this t3'pe, and very high in quality), and hoVa 
of whom avow a belief that the English type of Runner is the true 

24 



type. Both are changing from llic American type to t!ic Ion;C:cr. 
more slender, white-egg- type. 

Judge Clipp has said pubiicly : "Corisulting the numercus 
breeders of tliis famous duck during the show season, nine out of 
ten would admit that those of the penciled variety were the best 
layers." He also said: "I doubt if there is another lowl in exist- 
i:nce that will lay as many eggs during the year as the Indian Run- 
der. Even the Leghorn must take off her hat to the Indian Runner 
duck." Mr. Clipp speaks as a breeder, as v.-ell as a judge. 

Wiiat might be considered to be a mongrel Runner? One. 
surely, which had been outbred strongly. 'W'iiat docs tlie Bull 
<)rpington Duck claim to be? A cross, having Runner blood. On 
the strength oi Runner blood, and calling attention to this very 
^ize that shows the mongrel, its handlers are pushing this breed. 
It is probably a good Ijreed ; it can doul)tless be bred uj) till it is 
considered once more pure in blood; but v/hcn it is, it Vvill have 
mainly lost the Runner characteristics which now const'.tute one 
of its chief, talking points. Sirice, then, we already have a mongrel 
Runner with a breed name, let us beware lest we n'.ake the Indian 
Runner itself a mongrel by adding otlicr l>Iood, no matter of whai 
name. The true Rui]ner is so distinctive that it is more easily in- 
jured by outcrosses, it seems to me, than any other breed could 
possibly be. 

It was certainly not more than 13 }cars after ^Ir. Thomlin- 
son's first "particular attention" that the first birds were imported 
into this country. This makes it very probable indeed that the 
earlier birds imported into America, were very poor birds, from the 
l)resent point of view of the English Indian Runner Duck Club. As 
they have been bred to the American Standard now for a numbcT 
of years, it is perfectly fair to conclude that fev.' or none of the 
English Standard-bred ducks have been imported in recent years. 
This would follov.' from the fact that Americans were breeding 

25 



away from the English Standard. I except, of course, those who 
are frankly breeding to the English Standard because they believe 
it more nearly correct. In Mr. Thomlinson's book appears a por- 
trait of a Canadian duck, "never beaten in Canada,'' sketched — as 
a warning — by the Secretary' bf the English I. R. Club. The faults 
especially named are bad carriage, and "wide on legs."' The width 
between' Ifegs'and the solid fawn which the American ideal demands, 
are reg.^rded by the English as decidedly detrimental to the breed. 
"If ihc legs are ]:>laced wide apart, you are certain to get a waddler 
insUad of a Runner, and if not placed well liack vou get horizontal 
carriage,^"'- says Mr. Thomlinson. It is true that the English Stand- 
ard dcmansls an appearance of nniformity of the darker marking/, 
in t'.ic' body color of the female, Init it states with equal distinct- 
ness that these feathers may carr}'- two tones, one described as "soft 
fawn," the other as penciling which is "brighter and warmer in 
tint. "■■i*It; avers that the overlapping of the feathers makes the 
f-eitidldis^- appear almost solid fawn, cjuite. even in tone. This (pies- 
tion dues not come up with regard to the drakes, as they do not 
show ])enciling, in either type. • 

f wish more especially, however, to lay emphasis on the dit- 
iercnce between the two types from the utility standpoint, for here, 
i believe, the real fight is to be mad^. Numbers of breeders who 
have had both types affirm that the, English Standard-bred Runners 
are better layers ; laying earlier, more in numbers, larger eggs, and 
eggs- of' better color. The Indian Runners of the English type lay 
eggs of a transparent whiteness not seen, so far as I know, in any 
otherjjjcggs ofifered for table use in the regular markets. They 
a>«GragC:rth,rfe ounces, when...the; birds are well kept and matured. 
.\iu\, they^ are superior to hens' eggs for nearly all sorts of cooking. 
■!.;;...<::■:. The American Standard-bred ducks, as a whole, lay a con- 
siderable-proportion of green eggs, though the flocks vary, possibly, 
in this, r At least, ;some breeders send out less tha^U; others. I fancy, 
tpo,;.. that they makei some careful discrimination. At least, one 

26 



l)reeder sent eggs to the President of the American Poultry Asso- 
ciation, which the latter reported as being less than three per cent, 
green ; while to another, who w^as a lesser light, were sent by the 
same breeder, a lot containing so many green eggs that the breeder 
was in utter despair, and forthwith turned about and bought eggs 
ior hatching, of the English-bred type, by the hundreds, hatching 
iintil late in the season in order to get enough. I have read the 
letters making these statements. 

A letter from Connecticut, received after the hatching season 
'f P'lO. runs as follows: "This spring, I set a 240-egg incubator 
with so-called • Indian Runner ducks. Some of the eggs were 
white, but the majcjrity green. The ducklings arc most anylhiu';- 
:n color, from white to light fawn. I tlon't want an liiflian Kuniu-r 
Duck on my -place that lays a gree-n egg. The only thing 1 an.i 
after is ducks that lay white eggs and are prolific layers. Can } o'.i 
start me right by telling me wher« I can buy Indian Runner l)uck> 
that lay white eggs?" The demand 'ior the white eggs only is 
growing so strong that both the utilil}- man and the breeder ol 
liigh-grade Standard exhibition birds are demanding guarantees 
that the strain shall lay strictly-white eggs. The onh t}])e that 
comes anywhere near this, so far as any testimony I have seen or 
lieard, to date, goes, is the type bred to the English Standard. Those 
raisers who are breeding to the Amercian- Standard are promising 
themselves that they can breed out the green egg b}' strict selec- 
•lion. I do not say that this is utterly impossible, but any one knows 
ihat it must be a process of years. And. it has been my experience 
that when 3-ou breed out one characteristic of a cross, \ ou breed out 
also others, in time, and get back very near to the original Ijird. 
In the case of the Runners, this would mean that those now breed- 
ing to xA.merican Standard would find themselves approaching more 
and more to the English Standard duck, as thev cull oitt their green 



eggs for hatching. 



27 



Calling attention again to the fact tliat the clucks in the Aus- 
tralian competition were English Standard-bred Indian Runners, J 
will note a few statements that have been made as to laying ca- 
pacity of the Indian Runners — the English Indian Runners, I mean. 
For, I do not think there is a certified record published for the 
American type. It will be noticed in practically all references to 
the laying capacity of the Runners, in this country, that little men- 
tion is made of the records made in the yards of the writers there- 
of. These figures are simply copied. A large proportion of all the 
figures given have come from across the water. One big record 
came from New Zealand; one came from Ireland; several came 
from Australia. I have two official records made in public work; 
also, one, made by Mr. De Courcy's ducks; one, made by English ^ 
bred ducks of an American breeder; one, made in England 
by Mr. Thomlinson's ducks. The last-named record is 180, made 
in 1884. Mr Thomlinson states that he has had a few exceed this, 
in later years. The English-bred, American ducks made a record 
of 185. The Australian Competition, a public, ofificial report from 
birds handled at an Agricultural College, was, for the last year, 
reported as an average of 200, without meat, and made by two 

pens. 

Private claims, for which, so far as I know, no proof is 

shown, run winningly from 204 and 209 to 260, 280, and 288. Sev- 
eral breeders claim ducks having a record above 200; one states 
that his birds lay all winter, and one refers modestly to one of his 
ducks with a record of 200 eggs in nine and one-half months. This 
is only 21 a month ; many Runners are fully equal to this, during 
the favorable months. The rub is to get it during December and 
the moulting period. The 288 record was made in England, and I 
do not know what proofs have been given as to its authenticity. 
But, at least, the "plain-clothes" men, (those who want the plain 
fawn and white demanded by the American Standard) cannot con- 
.sistently claim it, as it was made by a "different" duck, 

28 



off and on, for a year, I ha^e been trying to get some verifi- 
cation of the record reported here :n 1^09 of 320 eggs from one In- 
dian Runner duck. Just before this monograph goes to press, 1 
am in receipt of a letter very much to the point. It is from James 
Sinclair, an English writer with whom I recently came into touch 
accidentally. He has made a tour around the world for the ex- 
[)ress purpose of studying progress in poultry culture. I have no 
permission to publish this letter, but I believe that I am not going 
beyond the bounds of courtesy in so doing, as no limitat.'ons have 
been laid upon me in any wa3^ The testimony is as follows: "I 
had the pleasure of seeing the record duck while I was in New 
Zealand, as I went to see the plant of its owner. * * =^= It is 
his 'Wonder' strain and laid 320 eggs in 365 days, and 512 eggs 
in 23 months, going through two complete moults. He had six 
'Little Wonders,' bred from this one, entered in the Cambridge 
Laying Competition, which were only four and one-half to five and 
one-half months old when entered, and had gone through a com- 
plete moult. When I left, had put up the good total of 900 eggs 
in seven months, notwithstandmg these obstacles ; the last twelve 
weeks' totals averaging over thirty-nine." 

This average means thirteen eggs per duck in each twc- 
weeks, for twelve weeks in succession. It is the Indian Runner 
Ducks' strongest bid for universal notice! Doubtless, the majority 
of people are unaware that Mr. I. K. Felch furnished a sworn 
record, some years ago, of a Light Brahma hen having laid 313 
eggs in one year. I am certain that the average Indian Runner 
duck will come nearer her "Wonder" average than will any breed 
of hens to the "wonder" record for hens. I know of one pub- 
lished record for an American hen, higher than th'!s duck record, 
but it was not a sworn record, as far as I know. 

Straight to the point testimony from the people who are in 
the midst of the work, and who have to meet difftculties at every 
turn, is one of the most valuable things we can have to give light 

29 



on mooted points. Extracts from sumc other of the letters whieli 
liave come to me dnring- the last few months will show further h.ow 
l)eople rc,gard the two types. The Viee-I'resident of one of the 
poultry clul)s writes: "'Give the pul)lic what it wants and v,hat is 
right, but do not try to educate it up to take only wdiat we have to 
offer, because it is a fad. People want something that will re- 
i)roduce itself, and the light fawn color won't do it. 1 don't think 
the new Standard, dirty white fawn will last." 

From the far west, a man of eon\-ictions writes: ''I'hrow- 
ing out the penciled type is an injtistice to all its breeders as well 
as to the true breed; it is tearing down what we have been building- 
up for years. Our ducks have won o\er all kinds of so-called In- 
dian Runners, scoring to ninety-six aiul a half and niiiet\'-^ix and 
three fourths at state show's. We have been breeding, this l-j'.grs]» 
type for eight years, and find no fault in them: while the fawn and 
white proved worthless nnder the same conditions. Why should 
the Revision Committee wipe either the English type or the .\mer!- 
can type off the face of the American soil?" Please ni»te that this 
letter was neither written for publication, nor for ad\ertis ng,. but 
is the outspoken expression of a man's belief, which he supports 
i)y his practice. Pie says, also, in the course of his letter, that, th._e 
American type "has neither carriage nc^r egg-laying (jualities." 

If any are prompted to deny this last statement I refer them 
to an excerpt from a letter written from one of those Missouri 
men who never believe anything unless you can show them. He 
says: "I have some, mongrels, this year's hatch, from stock 
claimed to score 96, and some haye neither marking nor type. They 
a.re white and fawn, but color not distributed as it should be, and 
carriage little more erect than my Ronens. Have a neighbor who 
has had no better luck. The eggs were green." 

The only man I happen to- know^ of wdio has bred the India<n 
Runners continuously for more than a dozen years, Mr. Fay Davis. 

30 



uf Flint, M!ch., says: "It is a sorry fact to mc to see the Stand- 
ard makers try to S]K)il one of the ntihty points of the breed. ] 
discarded, \ears ai;o, all my green egg' t}pe; now to go backward 
is a bitter pill to take." 

Pnldicl}-, Mr. Da\is has said: "I believe that every duck 
iliat lays a large, pure white egg shows, at certain seasons of the' 
year, a certain amount of penciling', w;;hich is very marked wdien the 
feathers are new, and becomes fainter when the feathers grow older. 
In my estimation, this penciling adds to the beauty of the plumage.'" 
Mrs. Brooks, who lives for and with her l\unners, speaks with 
i^cjual positiveness : "A prolific laying strain, producing large, 
-vhite eggs, with solid, light fawn color, has ne\er been produced, 
and, in my opinion, nexer will be. because it is contrary to nature." 

Air. Davis also states that he has spent twelve years in selec- 
tion i.f ducks thvtt lay pure white eggs with right cheek markings 
.(ud correct shape, and refers to "the cinnamon-colored (the ne\\ 
'fawn!') ducks that lay the dark eggs and that are incorrect in 
^hapci" Recently, on buying a pair of cinnamon-colored, light 
fawn. Standard ducks, he got the small, dark eggs again. Surely, 
lh;s man's testimon}- ought to count very strongly. I have been 
able to get the names of only two other breeders who were handling- 
Indian Runners in .America at the time wdien he took them up. 
The testimonv of a man who has held to them all through their 
irial in this country, is the best testimony that we can get. ]Mr. 
Davis adds that he has no trouble in selling all that himself and 
his customers can raise of the English, white-egg stock, and that 
he knows of no other fowd that can compare with them in profit. 
The knowledge of the man who has known both types since their 
Deginnings with us, is the knowledge wdiich ought to save us from 
making: future mistakes. 



31 



Selling and Cookery Value of 
INDIAN RUNNER EGGS 



CHAPTER V 

There are three aspects under which eggs may be considered, 
viz., as breeding material; as market stock; as a household neces- 
sity and luxury. The last is the strong point, if \vc take numbers 
into consideration ; yet, as the number of eggs produced depends 
quite largely, in some cases, upon the breeding value, it seems tc« 
me rather fitting to consider the eggs as breeding material, before 
laking up the other two points. 

Indian Runner eggs, at their best, hatch better than any 
other eggs of which I have had personal knowledge, taking the sea- 
^^on through. During the last hatching season, we had them run- 
ning for a long time, under actual test, at from 95% to 100% fertile. 
One hundred per cent of fertility does not, necessarily, mean a one 
liundred per cent hatch. But it is known that duck eggs generally 
hatch well when all the conditions are favorable, as compared with 
hens' eggs. The\- need a little more moisture while under incuba- 
lion, than do the better-known hens' eggs. 

The real value of the Runner eggs, as breeding material, will 
rest very largely on the conditions under which the ducks are kept. 
In order to be abk to hatch near the one hundred per cent which 
we take as ideal, and not impossible a part of the time) the con- 
ditions of yarding, feeding, etc., must also approach the ideal. 

32 



There must be fair room, proper proportion of males to females, 
sufficient shell materi.-il and grit, and plenty of fresh, lush green 
feed, besides the grain and meat, in various forms, which comprise 
the usual rations, not to mention the indispensable water to drink. 
It will not do to neglect any of these points, if one desires, or ex- 
pects good hatches of good ducks. 

There is, too, yet another point that needs consideration. 1 
think breeders all through our land have been far too careless, in 
the past, as to the length of time eggs were kept before shipment. 
It is hardly fair to blame them harshly, because it has been widely 
published by the leaders that eggs would keep, with good care, 
from three weeks to a month, and still hatch reasonably well. I'iix- 
])eriments at the Cornell Station show that this is a fallacy ; that 
cg-gs hatch without loss from depreciation to any great extent, up 
to two weeks. After that time, they lose rapidly in value for hatch- 
ing purposes. 

I have known an early shipment of 200 hens' eggs, from 
ime of the most prominent breeders, to give less than twenty chicks, 
lliere are two reasons which promptly present themselves, beyond 
the possibility of infertility: these are. possible chilling of many. 
;nd possible holding beyond the age when they were fit to shij). 
When eggs are scarce, the temptation to hold them longer than one 
would do later in the season, is strong, and it is buttressed by the 
known fact that they will keep longer in cold weather than during 
sumfner heat. The carriers, too, often put a shipper in the wrong: 
sometimes by careless handling, against which we are helpless, be- 
cause we cannot prove it unless there is breakage ; sometimes b\ 
undue delays on the road. Several times last season, I knew ol 
shipments being twice and three times as long on the road as they 
should have been One shipment which, had it been a passenger, 
w^ould have gone through in 36 hours, was exactly a week on the 
load. A shipper has a right to calculate on prompt carriag\% but 

35 



the carriers, by a delay like this, may hohl his es^'gs l)eyond the 
period of value for hatching- purposes. Breeders need to keep these 
points always in mind, and I th'nk it is wise to err on the safe side, 
if any, in shipping" any kind of duck egi^^s. 

As market stock, the eggs of the Indian Runner have opened 
tip possibilities never before ahead of us. at least, as far as we 
could know. They not only furnish the large sized product that 
everybody likes to buy, Init. under fax'orable conditions, they can 
be produced more cheaply than tlie smaller hens' eggs. I do not. 
by any means, wish to tempt every one to take up ducks. There 
.ire son;e points about handling all duck's, especially in confinement, 
that do not cummend themselves to the average ])erson. Among 
these are the tilth of their yards and the work of dressing the car- 
i-asses that must, eventually, go to market. The first of these can 
be oxercome b_\- [proper management, on the right kind of location. 
Ducks can be kept, and do thoroughly well :n confinement, but this 
makes more work for the handler, as a matter of course. 

We have had Indian Runner ducks, raised wholly in con- 
finement, begin to shell out the eggs while still just less than four 
and one-half months old. This was without any conscious efifort 
to push them. It is not common to them to lay quite so early as 
this. But they do lay earlier than hens, comparatively speaking ; 
:hev do lav more persistently; they do lay better in the autumn: 
ihey do make a higher record, on the average. When we add these 
items to the fact that they lay an egg exactly one-half larger than 
the standard of size for hens' e'ggs, and that the English type lay 
white, translucent eggs, it is easy to see that their value as produc- 
ers of market eggs is abnormally high, as compared with anything 
yet known. 

The eventual value of the green type egg turns entirely on the 
(juestion as to whether or not a green egg will sell in the market. 
Possibly — a remote possibility, is it n(it? — possibly some one wilt 

34 



have business acumen and inish sufficient to popularize the i;Teen 
egg just as some locahties have popularized the brown 
egg- of the Asiatics. lint up to the jn-escnt, it seems to be a tact 
that green eggs are little desired, except at Easter time, when the 
colored eggs have the right of way for a short period. This is not 
saying that they will not sell ; 1 hold that a perfectly good food 
product in as good general demand as eggs, should always sell, if 
I he producer have any skill at all iii marketing. But I leave it to 
the good sense of the reader whether the Indian Runner, so ]:)r()lihc 
and quick maturing ; so likely therefore, to increase remarkably 
fast, would not better think twice before she lays a green egg for 
ihe average Iniyer. For, it is the average buyer to whom we must 
cater, in all market offerings. We can educate him, Init it is slow 
work, and it takes a skilled market man to do it. 

When we come to the third point, the consideration of the 
indian Runner egg as a household luxury, we can make out a tre- 
mendous case. For while this "luxury" delights the producer by 
-elling at special seasons, occasionally, at twice the price of hens* 
eggs, it usuallv l)rings but five to ten cents more a dozen. The 
latter figure is proportionately cheai)er for the consumer than hens' 
eggs, just as soon as the latter get above twenty cents. They fall 
])elow this figure so seldom nowadays, that it is safe to state that 
The ducks" eggs are always cheaper than hens' eggs, if only ten 
Lents more a dozen. Two of these eggs will, at any time, take 
the place of three hens' eggs, even when the latter are fully up to 
the standard, market size, which is two ounces. Xo eggs were 
e\er more delicately sweet than those of the Indian Runner; so 
that it mav fairly be said that we shall soon have a luxury which 
IS not extravagant, and wdiich, it is hoped, may soon become plenti- 
ful on our markets. At the date of this writing. onl\- a few favored 
iniyers can have them, because there are not nearly enough to go 
around. The cities ha\e hardly heard^of the Indian Runner, as yet. 

35 



I am fortunate in being able to report a household test, made 
by Mrs. Grant M. Curtis, the editor of a Table Department in the 
"Reliable Poultry Journal." A breeder of the white-egg type, in 
western New York, sent to Mrs. Curtis 's office some eggs for test- 
ing on all cookery points. The breeder's confidence in English 
type of Indian Runner as a winner was not misplaced. When the 
eggs were hard-boiled, or poached, the only fault that was found 
was that the whites were a little tougher than those of the hens" 
eggs, cooked in the same ways; but, the yolk was reported as 
smoother and richer tasting. Soft-boiled, and used as frosting, the} 
were affirmed to be equally good with hens' eggs. In custards, 
two eggs to a quart of milk took the place of the five eggs the cook 
was wont to use, and "it was as delicious a custard as we ever 
;asled." 

The lady who made these tests tried the eggs in making 
,:-punge cake, also, "believing that sponge cake is one of the most 
difficult cakes to make. Three eggs were used in the place oi 
live with equally good results." The report closes: "We could 
not detect any unusual flavor in any of the eggs used, not even in 
ihe custard and cake. Having tested them, we should not hesitate 
\o purchase such duck eggs, ... in preference to hens' eggs, which 
;ire, alas, ofttimes so far below what should be standard size that 
we wish, with 'Uncle I. K.' that eggs were sold by the pound.'' 
As Mrs. Curtis acknowledged herself to have been, before this test, 
somewhat prejudiced against duck eggs, this ma}' be regarded as 
a handsome amende to the Indian Runner, 

Not enough eggs remained to try omelet making. If the 
experimenter could have tiied it, she would have found that it is 
in this point that the Indian Runner eggs score most strongly, per- 
l:aps. They make a most delicious omelet, will bear more liquid 
than hens' eggs, for this use, and may be used with water, instead 
uf milk, when necessity demands. The firmer white doubtless is> 

.36 



iin acivantaoe here, as the omelet is not so likel3' to fall, and some 
hke it better with water than with milk, while the scalded milk is 
avoided in the case of the many invalids to whom milk seems to 
l-e poison. 



System and Forethought in 
MAKING A MARKET 



CHAPTER VI 

Up to the time of the present writing, Indian Runner ducks 
liave l)een kept so busy in supphing the demand for eggs for hatch- 
ing, that they have not had time t<i "bother" with market eggs. 
The fact that the young grow to mature size in the short period of 
.•-omething Hke twelve weeks has made it possible to sell hatching' 
eggs freely during two-thirds of the year, even to northern breed- 
ers, while those who want eggs to go south will lake them at almost 
jny time except in the very hottest months. Some do not even 
make this exception. A letter received late in Wn^ember says: '"I 
am filling some orders to southern customers. The half-Waltons 
,'<re doing a good share of the laying." A note received in late 
October of this year from a well-known breeder, mentioned just 
having taken oif a fine hatch of duckings from the incubators, and 
said that he was still hatching for himself every egg he could hold 
lo. 1 do not think the later hatched birds ever attain such good 
size, but they hel]) out while stock is still scarce. Among the early 
hatched birds, in our own yards, we frec|uently have males which 
go a half-pound al)o\e Standard weight. 

Last year, a l)reeder told me that he filled one order for .^.000 

38 



ec^gs. Perhaps others fill e\en lart^er ones. Hut he was obliged 
t(j call on neighbor breeders for qnite a proportion of his order: 
since it would take 250 ducks three weeks to lay 5,000 eggs, even 
if every duck laid ever}- day. and e\ery egg was perfect. This is. 
of course, bevond the limit of lading for any flock of domestic fowls 
of this size. ( )r \-irtuall}'. for any tlock. 

"What sellers they are!" is a suggesti\e sentence regarding 
Indian Runners, from a private letter recei\ed here in October. 
1910. This attribute has belonged to these ducks e\'er since I have 
known anything about them. The demand has snapped up, — usu- 
ally before winter — all that could be raised, for l)reeding use; and 
even then it was not satisfied with the amount of the su]:)ply. This 
market, both for eggs and for stock has. in one sense, made itself. 

But. in the future, as the farms work more into raising In- 
dian Runners, there will need to be some systematic etfort to make 
markets which will take all the sup])ly at a satisfactory- ])rice. Con- 
sidering the matter nf j^rice from the actual, intrinsic xalue, since 
the eggs ()f the Runner average to weigh one-half more than the 
standard, market hens' egg, the_\- shoidd l)e worth one-half more. 
This must be disctninted a liitle by the fact that "an egg"s an egg," 
i.nd, for strictly table use. three hens' eggs will "'go farther" than 
two ducks" egg.s (usuall_\- serving three persons,) though the eaters 
will not get the same amount of nutriment. There is also the 
■old i)reiudice against ducks" eggs to be reckoned with. Judging 
by intrinsic \alue alone, when hens" eggs bring forty cents in a 
firm market, Indian Runner ducks" eggs should be worth sixt}" 
cents. Whether we shall ever attain to this as a permanent stand- 
ard of comparative \alues, 1 am unable to prophesy. At Easter, i 
think there will be no dif^culty in doing it; at other times, until 
the market is firmly established, we may. perhaps, find it necessaiy 
to take a price from five to ten cents above the market price of hens" 
eggs at any given time. 

39 



I know of one case in which the producer sold the output of 
eggs in Boston market at five cents a dozen more than for f.eghorns" 
eggs, all through the spring and summer, thougii Boston is u<:)t a 
^ood market for ducks' eggs. In another instance, in New "^^^irk 
market, a breeder sold Indian Runner eggs in crate lots, at 17c and 
upward, more than the going price for fine hens' eggs. This was at 
faster time, and several years ago, even before all eggs were a.s 
1 igh in price all the time as is now the case. I know, too, of a cer- 
tain physician, practising in a small toAvn. who recommended Indian 
Runner eggs for his patients, as preferable to hens' eggs. In that 
city, the Runner eggs have brought at least five cents more than 
hens' eggs, regularly, through some years and down to the present 
time. This does not seem enough, but when we remember tlv-it 
ihe Runners are more prolific than hens, that they lay during v. 
longer average period, and that they will thrive on coarser feed, 
with less coddling, and with cheaper housing", the argument in 
lavor of the Runners is pretty strong'. 

There is one point about selling which I want to make as em- 
phatic as possible. This is: the sellers must ignore the prejudice 
against duck eggs — a relic of a careless age. or poorer ducks — ex- 
cept when obliged to meet it through the inquiry of a possible cus- 
tomer! Talk about the good qualities of the Runner eggs, and 
especially about their size and their sweetness. The}- have both, so 
*hat your arguments are ready for you in the goods you have tn 
>ell, regardless of the class of goods your grandfathers sold. If }Ou 
have eggs enough to warrant it, put an advertisement into your 
town paper, offering eggs at a stated price, and telling the po'nts 
in which they are superior to hens' eggs. When the people have 
read it times enough, they will believe it. This is the best way 
to make a market for any poultry products, if you have enough 
to make it an object. It costs very little, and it enables you to sell 
birds when they are ready, instead of holding the good till the 

40 



backward catch u]), which they seldom really do. besides, it yon 
word your notices to that end. yon are edncating- your possible 
customers up to your class of product, and when they want stuff, 
•hey will seek you. 

While I do not, at jiresent. urge that the Indian Runner be 
grown specifically as a market duck, our recent experience shows 
that it can be thus grown, and profitably so. A\'e placed, in the \il- 
lage paper, a fifteen-word advertisement offering table ducks, at 
door, alive, at one dollar each. A single insertion sold all we had 
to spare, within two weeks. A little earlier, Ave made an opening; 
into the trade of a high class city club, at the san.ie price, dressed. 
ft makes little difference as to the last, if one have the time for 
;he work, as the feathers will more than pa\- foi- it. Inasmuch as 
ducks, like the conuuoner ft)wls, come about half males, there is 
always a surplus of these. "Phere will also be a jiroportion of old 
d.ucks to work ofi", each }-ear. J think it wouhf b.e better, in g;en 
eral, to send these in one lot, to a city market. 

Selling anything is a ])sychological exjn'rience. Many are 
good salesmen, because they have some n;ilural keetniess which 
enables them to go about it r'ght. Experience may add much, also. 
And, because it is a ps}'chological thing, it may be learned tliiough 
a general study of psychology, the results of wdiich will a])pl\ to 
every ex[)erience in l)usiness. social or famil_\- life. It ^<unids foar- 
.'Ome, but it is fascinating' and practical. 

For those who cannot help to build up a inar]<et.. there arc 
opportunities now which were ne\er before offered. < >ne eastern 
tirm is offering, during the anttimn of 1010, highest market ^ate^~ 
en good poultry of all kinds, and furnishing coo|)s. returning tlu- 
l-rice of coops when thev reach the store with their CMnsignment of 
])Oultr}'. 



41 



The Indian Runners 
MAKING HISTORY 



CHAPTER VII 

Xearlv evcr\- mail brinqs in(]nin'es as to the \ari(^iis ty])es ()\ 
Indian Rnnncr, or recitals of experience with the breed in one t}'i)e 
(>r the other. As to the birds themselves, 1 have little difficult}- 
;n replyint^- to questions. As to orio-in, history, etc.. the people 
.vho have the facts liaA'e varied in their willingness to let the public 
! ave them — at least thrtniqh this medium ; and it has had them 
through no other medium thus far. 1"he ])ul)lic wants these facts 
:;nd it wants them badly 

Several of the earlier breeders ,L;a\e uie all the help I asked. 

'or this they have my hearty thanks, and I Icnow that they will 
iiave that of the public wdiich is interested in Indian Runners, as 

veil. Others ignored nu- request, or answered far atield. To one 
'reeder, I wrote thus: "Davis, of Michigan, tells me that you 

vere one of the original breeders of Indian kunners. i want to 
-md out just when they came into the L'nited States and who im- 
• orted them. Do you know who was the first, and whether or not 

he birds came from England? Also, how long ago? 1 see Mc- 
•jrew says little is known about them. I know what luiglish breed- 
■ rs say, but it seems to me that it ought to be i)Ossil)lc to find out 

42 



■-•/here I'nited Slates l)reeders ^dl llieni. and when the first were im- 
I'Orted. ]i has been i;iven out liere that they eanie from the West 
Indies, wliieh 1 do not at all helie\ e. unk'ss the two types which we 
are Ijreedini; at present in lh!s country had a different origin en- 
tirel}'. Re])ly wouhl \cry t^reatlv assist."' etc. All l)Ut one of these 
i;uestions was ii.Miored in the answer. 

J had two ideas in mind in speaking of origin. The West 
Indian story, which 1 ha\ e refuted elsewdiere, had i^one all over 
'^Iie C^nited Slates, and, ha\in^ been credited to a reputa])le writer, 
who was a breeder ol the Indian Runners betore most of us had 
heard of them, 't was (piite L^eneralh- acce])ted as fact: especiallx 
by those who did not know much aljout the duck in F.Ui^iand, and 
what the be>t l*ln;^lish breeders had to sa\- abt>ut it. A[(jreo\-er. 
!]ri<^-land aiid tlie West Indies lia\e had many dealings, throui^hout 
man\- }ears, ar.d it was not an incredible stor\ . in the lii.;lu of possi- 
bilities, that our Indian Runners should ha\e come to us, in part, a1 
least, throuf.;h the West Indies. 

Aside from this, there was the possibility of different origins 
of different strains. Last winter, at the Xew \'ork show, a man 
])rominent in afTectiuL; th.e fate ol Indian Runners in this countr}' 
by his pid)lic acts, said, in m\ hearjig, that it would l)e \ery eas)- 
indeed to rcDroduce the Indian Runners l)y the use of two or three 
of our earl'er l)reeds, — at least as far as the solid fawn marking, 
on white was concerned. All l)reeders ol fancy lowls kn(jw, after 
ihey ha\'e a little exi)eri(, iice with breeding and cxhiibiting, that no 
man dare .-a \ what Itlood is in an\ one strain of birds of any 1')reed, 
when it has l^ei-n long out of the originator's hands. That "for- 
eign" blo<:d has been put into the Indian K miner of some strains, 
no. breeder of e.\i)erience and observation can fail to see. Indeed, 
it is usuallx admitted, in a general way, aUhough no one confesses 
■o ha\ing introduced such blood. W hen a bird which, in its purity, 
should stand \ ery erect, degenerates into a logy, heavy liird wliich 



43 



it i.-- very difficult lo breed out of tlie horizontal carriage, there is 
;l reason — with apologies to the owners (?) of this clause! And 
everv experienced breeder knows in a general way what that reason 
is; When a bird that is. in its purity, rather definitely and 
<trongi\' marked with a dark color, throws a large number of white 
specmiens, as many complainants affirm that the '"fawn'" Indian 
Runners do, there is white blood back of it somewhere. White 
will not prevail so widely in the face of man's continual 
selection of the other sort, unless man has made the mistake of 
adding more white, and so has strengthened it. 

I saw some fine Indian Runners in another state, !n the fall 
of 1910, l)red from "Walton"' stock. The}' were excellent in shape 
and beautiful in color. I judged that the importer was trying to 
breed on this stock to get shape and carriage, and up through it to 
llie American Standard. This would be the one best way out of 
the difficulty, if ^t were feasible. But, when a judge of National 
reputation assures }ou that it is folly to try to do this, and that the 
true way is to buy of the n.ien who now have birds nearest to the 
\nierican Standard, you want to know 'AVhy?'" And >ou make 
your question mark ver}' large. 

The fancier would not be undul}' dependent on the Standard, 
if he could dei)end on it not to change just as he got somewhere 
near its demands. And, when the Association makes a mistake ii 
is almost in honor bound to stand by it, or to recede from the 
l.'oint gradually, for the sake of those wdio have done its biddirig, 
and bred to the false ideal. Nor can it afiford, from one point of 
'^'iew, to admit that it has made a mistake, although many of it^ 
members will admit this personally. But the farmer must take 
what the fancier hands down to him, if he wants anything new m 
:he way of a breed, and while the association helps him on one hand. 
it injures him on the other. 

On the day before I write this chapter, a letter came in tilt- 

44 



iriorning- mail, from one of a firm of farmers who evidently want 
to grow up into fanciers. Init can h}' no means afford to ignore the 
aliliiy side of breeding-. The letter said: "I have some good In- 
dian Runners, and want to keep only the best. However, my best 
ducks I cannot take to the Fairs, as they are too dark. Yet, they 
produce the eggs we prefer, — the white ones." But this man is li^.t 
so ];adly off as is the one who wants to raise Runners solely for tiio 
eggs, vvhen such a one chances to get his stock from a breeder >ji 
the sold fawns. If he gets from these a large proportion of grecii 
eggs, he is diappointed. disgusted, discouraged, and can get i'"'' 
i"e dress. 

On the day previous to the receipt of the above mentioned 
letter, I recei\'ed another incjuiring about the white-egg sort, arid 
saying: "I have some of the green-egg kind, but am not satisfied 
with the color of the eggs."" A large breeder wrote me, the same 
week: ''An inc|u!rer, an M. D., v^rites to know if I will sell ducks 
guaranteed to lay white eggs or money refunded ; that he would 
not have layers of green eggs at any price, nor as a gift; that he 
would hardly eat them if well-cooked." Of course, this is largeh 
;•. matter of personal whim, as far as not eating a green-shelled egg 
is concerned. But we need to remember that the great bulk of the 
Indian Runner eggs must shortly be sold to the public at large, few 
of whom lack personal whims, of one sort or another. It is our 
business to humor those whims just as far as we may. And we 
know that the people of much of our country have been taught t'.' 
demand white eggs; whether it be a whim, or not, does not affect 
the fact with regard to the call for white eggs. 

A Texas rancher who thought to take Fortune by the top- 
knot, as it were, and haul her --into his service, wrote as follows: 
■'The penciled ducks are better than J thought. I thought T would 
order several pens from different parties and stock up on the best. 
Aly onlv wish is that I had bought all penciled Runners." The 

45 




Much enlarged to show the delicate Lacing, which does not appear in any ordi- 
nary photograph. Bred to English Standard, but rather full in breast. 

OroTATiox: "The two varieties (American and English types) have the same 

style of carriage. * * All the difference is in color of plumage. "( •' ) 

Compare the types on these opposite pages and see if you agree with him ! 
A poor cut, but a good bird. 



(lucks had converted the rancher t(^ the ncnciltd type, before the\ 
l;ad time to lay an egg" for liim. The solid fawn is so handsome, i;i 
the best specimens, that I should hardly expect such sudden con- 
\ers"on, but I have the Iniyer's own testimony, in writing, as to 
ihe fact. 

One or two letters which 1 have in hand are so l)itte" in ex- 
pressing an opinion about the m.atter O'" change of type that 1 do 
not think it wise to f)ublish them, even without sigiiatu'-es. One 
breeder, in especial, stated with hot comment, tliat he would hold to 
l!ie genuine type, even if they should be disqualified by the .\meri- 
can Committee, in the revision of the Standard. 

One letter, from an incjuirer not at all familiar v.''th the In- 
dian Runner, asks many questions. Among c)thers. ''Are the\" 
hardy?'" The descriptive adjective "hardy "'usually appears in any 
iccital of the virtues of these ducks, but no one has enlarged upon it. 
io my knowledge. When people ask such a ((uestion as this, I im- 
mediately wonder what they mean by "hardy." .\ble to withstaiul 
^now? Cutting winds? Dampness? Extreme cold? ^^'hat is 
■'extreme"? We have the light winters of the south, and the 40- 
degrees-below-zero of the northwest. Wdiich of these is the fair 
test? Or is it a point in between? I can testif\- to the limit of 
six below zero. I have seen Indian Runners, just maturng. run- 
ning in the open, in December's bitter days, with not a bit of shel- 
ter but some small coops, which they ignored. The yards were 
strongly wind-swept, and the birds were out all night as well as 
all day. They sat on their feet, and hid their heads in their rufi's, 
when it was coldest, and especially during cutting w'nds. No one 
with any experience with fowls would expect eggs under such con- 
'iitions, of course. But the ducks were doing well enough other- 
wise, and happy as larks, even on the snow, as soon as it began to 
rhaw. I judge them to be hardier in some respects than any breed 
•f hens I have had experience with — and that is a great many. 

48 



"They do not require any shelter after they are grown," is the tes- 
timony of another breeder. Nevertheless, all who expect to get 
eggs at the north in the colder months must provide shelter, and 
see that the birds do riOt stay much in cutting wind. Too close 
shelter is not desirable, especially for breeding stock. 

All poultry yards, whether for hens or other birds, should 
have shelter on the sides toward the prevailing winds ; this is only 
common-sense. Hedging, shrubbery, low-branching trees — ^any of 
these may afford the shelter needed. I think there is no doubt that 
the Runners would prefer a shelter consisting only of a roof, with 
thickly-branched shrubs for one or two sides ; for they are very 
suspicious, and are much wilder when enclosed than when free 
to go about. Whether this would be warm enough to permit lay- 
ing, I am not sure; think it doubtful, at least in the three worst 
months. The breeders who report that their birds lay "remarkably 
well" during the winter probably do not house them on the hither 
side of an iceberg; though even that would be more comfortable, 
it may be, than an open sweep of cutting winds. Think a minute ! 
Even inside your dwellings, unless very warmly built, a keen gale 
will make forty degrees difference next to the windward sides. 
How much more bitter will it be outside ! 

I see that one enthusiast says that hotels and restaurants 
will not use any other sort of eggs if they can get Indian Runner 
duck eggs. There is good sense behind the statement — -regarding 
it rather as a prophecy — because these are the places that must often 
consider quantity ; and in any table portion where eggs enter in as 
(juantity, and not as eggs in natural form, two duck eggs will 
always take the place of three hens' eggs, so that these caterers 
reed but pay for eight, instead of a dozen, to do the same work. 

As to the horde of bakers who are said to have been using 
rotten eggs lately, the Indian Runner breeder looks for no custom 
from them. He will prefer to stick to the hotels and restaurants 

49 



which "will not use any other kind" but big, sweet Indian Runn<)r 

eggs. , '■ ,;,;,-., :, , 

Messrs. M. and S., Indian Runner breeders of, the middle- 
west, both of whom have kept both types of Iiidian Runner, testify 
to their experiences on.jthe.-5amq page of a 1910 number of Qne. pf 
our poultTy pa.pers. Mr.. S. states that he can fii|d no difference 
in the laying quality of; the two types, but refers to |h|e. tendency, of 
the laced birds toward a dark head and rump, as a defect. But, this 
is exactly what the Standard they are bred to^deniands them to 
have. , ,, 

Mr. ,M. on the contrary, says, that the -Ificed birds ,are super- 
ipr to the solid fawn sort in hardiiiess, and in the ■" prodvictipn of 
more and larger white-shell^d,,eggs." He also says that when the 
Indian Rui^nner comes to be bred, for market eggs mainj.y, "you 
must liave a supply of large,, white eggs to please- the trade and 
obtain the highest price." Ten times its weight within the year, 
is; what he avers that laced du.(;ks of this breed, properly handled, 
will produce. He bases his preference fundamentally on the fact 
that the laced birds are the stronger birds and tije bettef; layers. 

Mr. S. again, finds the solid colored birds easier to breed to 
Standard requirements, and thinks this is a virtue; while Mr. M. 
reiterates that it is the largest amount of wdiite-slielled eggs that 
the people want, and, thus stands for the English-bred- penciled birds. 
These, he breeds largely, and sells at good prices. 

If I have not, on the other pages of this book, made it suffi- 
ciently clear that I have no wish to coerce the fancier who likes 
the fawn and white birds into raising anything else, I want to do 
so no^\^ , But, I. have seen his birds where he shows his best. I 
know them to be inferior to the original type in several respects, 
because he has too far ignored true type» in a craze for a certain 
color. In doing this, as all know, he breaks, like many other breed- 
ers, a fundamental rule of the law-giving Association. But what 

, .SO 



of that? Is he not a fancier, and may he not do as he fancies? 

Neither, for any cause, would I put a handsome bird out of 
existence; but I certainly would oppose her shoving aside the real 
claimant to honors; especiallx' when it means that many a farmer, 
caught by the name and the fame of the "Indian Runner" will be 
deluded into ^buying, -ihe green-egg "solid fawn'.' type, only to 
"tear his hair" when these birds begin to lay. 

I first took this breed up to test it for the benefit of the 
thousands of readers of a prominent farm pajier. I found it better 
than I expected, and I found many more people interested than I 
:iad looked to see. It is because of these people, and many others 
like them, who will in the future want to know as much as possible 
about the Indian Runners, that I have ventured to dififer from that 
great and wise body, the American Poultry Association, and many 
of the good fanciers who compose it and to make that difference 
public, so that well-informed buyers may know what they are do- 
ing. 



5t 



Best AU-Around Handling of 

THE BREEDING STOCK 



CHAPTER VIII 

There is a knack about the handling of ducks which has to 
be learned. It is fortunate that it can be learned quite readily 
from the literature. Much of it lies in knowing just where ducks 
differ from hens, in their requirements. The love of ducks for the 
water is well known, and the very fact that they fall in the "Water 
Fowl" class affirms it. 

Still, it is very difficult to some to realize that ducks always 
need drinking water before they need feed ; and, on the other hand- 
it is difficult to realize that ducks can be raised virtually as land 
birds, with no water but that which a tub may hold ; and that, if 
ihey have good grass range, they wall not seem to suffer material 
deterioration. It is, of course, much harder to raise yarded ducks 
without running water, since they love to play in water, will 
waste much that is provided for them, and cannot he neglected in 
this matter. If they are without drinking water a single half hour, 
they become uneasy, noisy, and obtrusive of their sufferings. In 
small quarters, ducks are said to be, in general, the most easily 

52 



managed of all domestic fowls; (som^ say, the most profitable. 
also.) I saw an instance of this, as far as it relates to housing, 
which was a revelation as to the easy adaptability of ducks to the 
conditions wh'ch they must needs meet. The duck shelter to which 
J refer was just a one-room, dirt-floor, double-pitch arrangement, 
the upper half of the usual siding being replaced by wire netting. 
The floor measurement may have been ten by tw^elve feet. Through 
the center, lengthwise, nearly the whole length, ran an alley. Ai 
one end and on the sides of this alley, were, I think, seven pen> 
for ducks. The cat was not there to be "swung,'' but I am sure 
there was not room in any one of these divisions. Yet, the ducks 
teemed to be doing well enough. The matter that saved the situa- 
tion w^as that the shelter stood at the head of a steep slope, and there 
was running water at the bottom to which the mature birds had 
continual access. Such confined quarters ("sevenths," rather) 
are not to be advised; but the story shows how especial care in one 
direction may oft'set, when necessary, some neglect or lack in an- 
other. 

Duck houses are of the simplest construction, and about the 
only need is a roof with three or four walls, and some rather deep, 
clean litter. Many times, they prefer to sit out, entirely exposed 
to the weather. But this is a matter which affects their breeding 
value muchj^in some seasons. A valuable breeding bird requires 
comfort, and if she have not a comfortable shelter and warm litter, 
many of her eggs will be wasted through chilling, during the early 
part of the year. One should not forget that, although ducks are 
water fowl, they need dry shelters and drained soil, at least near 
their sleeping place. I have seen ordinary puddle ducks, probably 
once kin to the Rouen aristocracy, sit all night in the dead of win- 
ter on a pond, just where it was fed from a living spring. But 
these ducks were not expected to lay until March. 



S3 



MAKING A VIGOROUS BREEDER 

The foregoing remarks indicate the general handling which 
goes to the making of a vigorous breeder, or, a vigorous layer. 
The market duck is handled differently while growing', especially 
in the matter of feed. The very sweeping statement has been 
niade that there is only one duck for profit, as that one is so far 
superior to all the others. But this statement was penned eleven 
vears ago, when the ver}^ name of Indan Runner was practically 
unknown in this country. More recently, an extensive grower of 
the big, market ducks has told me that, in his opinion, there would 
never be any market for the Indian Runner. Fortunately growers 
of Indian Runners are disproving this to some extent, although at 
the present writing, these ducks are unknown to the majority, prob- 
ably, of city commission men. Indeed, in New York City itself, 
T have found only one firm familiar with the Indian Runner by 
name. The author of "Poultry Craft" says that exclusive duck 
farming can be made profitable only near a large city, wdiere there 
is, a good demand for ducks ; a few ducks, he admits, can be grown 
profitably almost anywhere. The same author says that, on large 
plants, th'C estimated cost of growing is up to eight cents a pound, 
and that special duck farmers would soon have to go out of busi- 
ness through the very fouling of the soil, and its consequent un- 
healthfulness, did they not use the latter part of the summer season 
m making it sanitary through the use of growing crops. 

Fortunately, the Indian Runner can make good so fully in a 
single, special line, that of egg production the year around, that we 
scarcely need to listen to the market men, no matter what they 
have to say about real, market ducks. The Runner breeders will 
have only to dispose of their worn-out layers, and the Runners lay 
well until several years old, according to testimon5^ 

The feed, then, will not be that of the market duck, but 
that of the breeder and layer. One part green food to two parts 

54 



graia mixture is the general rule to produce a well-framed duck. 
All will be fed on this basis till, possibly eight weeks old.. After 
this, the market ducks needs more corn in some .form. The stock 
to be grown on is kept on about the same ration right along till 
it is time for laying to begin. It is understood that meat is always 
led after the ducklings are a few days or a week <)ld, the amount 
being, increased as the birds get larger. Ten per ceiit is about the 
average given to the ducks well started, wdiich is sometimes in- 
creased to twelve per cent just before fattening time, if they arc 
to go to market. 

If a single article of food were to be mentioned as of more 
value to duck breeders than any other, douljtless it would be bran. 
Bran, however, differs, in these times, .from the older niill product, 
and modern brans are not all alike. I wish to impress especially the 
need of securing a good grade of feeding stuff's for ducks. Tainted 
meat, or moldy ground stuff' will work quick'hayoc with ducklings, 
at almost any age. Some time ago, a correspondent \yrote to in- 
quire what could be done for the ducklings, which had suddenly 
begun to die by the score and almost by the hundred. Every pos- 
sible point of failure was canvassed, but handling seemed to be 
correct upon all, till we came to the question of spoiled feed. Then 
it came out that a mill which had been relied upon, was putting- 
out a product made from grains that had virtually become rotted 
in the fields. 

Ducks have a desirable quality in the fact that they will not 
eat when really sick, and thus they have some chance to recover. 
The universal testimony is that a duck well-hatched is as good as 
raised, after one gets the knack, and the chief diSficulty in raising 
ducks inheres in their greedy desire to gorge themselves', combined 
with neglect, by their owner,' to make sure that they always have 
water to help them at this weak point. Dry feed and withheld 
water are the duck's w'orst combination foe. Considerable can be 

55 



done to ward off trouble by soaking the cracked corn which is 
used, for an hour or so before feeding it. (The only point to watch 
out against is letting it ferment in extreme warm weather.) Being 
then swollen before it is eaten, it will not make trouble by swelling 
nfter being eaten. The duck has no crop proper, like the hen. The 
feed is passed into the stomach, and thence through the other or- 
gans of digestion. The duckling eats eagerly and often. This is, 
no doubt, the chief reason why it does not do to use too much hard, 
dry grain, or to omit water at any time. We have found much satis- 
faction in feeding stale bread soaked in milk, in connection with 
bran, for the first few weeks. Cracked corn is used for one meal 
a day, and clover, cut sweet-corn stalks, grass, rape, weeds, cab- 
bage, beet pulp and other things that may be handy, help out the 
growers who may not have grass range. 

The matter of shade is one which must never be overlooked. 
1 have seen, on farms where there was abundance of delightful 
shade, both duck and chicken coops located out in the open, under 
a broiling July or August sun. At the same time, the shallow 
water dishes were entirely dry, it might be for hours. Such ducks 
and chickens are pre-destined to die of mysterious (?) causes, and 
none can ward this off till shade and water become a part of the 
constant conditions under which they grow. Ducks are very sen- 
.'•itive to the heat of summer suns, and I have seen even the less 
sensitive chickens thrown into convulsions or limberneck during 
the awful heat of midsummer conditions without shade. The best 
of things can, however, be overdone. The one safe way is to make 
both shade and sunshine free to the younglings, and let them choose 
for themselves which they will take at any one time. It is not 
necessary, as one breeder did, when told to provide shade, to coop 
the ducks so that they could not get from under the dense shade 
of an overhead grape arbor. Even summer days vary much, and 
summer nights become as cold as autumn, at times. I have worn 

56 



mittens on the fourth of July, and e\en then suffered with the coM. 
in New York state. An exception, of course, but one never knows 
when an exception may arise. Forethought is one's best defence, 
and must be a continual part of the poultryman's panoply. 

It is altoi^ether better to feed and water outs'de the slulters, 
except under \ery unusual conditions. All who keep ducks under 
cond.'tions which require yarding, make much use of small grit, and 
many use charcoal also, at least, occasionally. Charcoal is espe- 
tialy good in the case of trouble with indigestion. But, inasmucli 
as the old saw about locking the barn after the horse is stolen ap- 
plies V ith great force to ducks, the wise duck grower studes his 
conditions carefully, and so plans as to render impossible, those 
things which are likely to make trouble in the duck yard. 

One careful grower known to me who would by no means 
be caught napping about anything in the regular preventive line, 
has lost a large bunch of ducks through hunters; another, through 
the ducklings having eaten rose beetles. 

The sexes are usually about equally represented in the young 
stock. Occasionally, a freakish hatch may be very unequal. One 
buyer, in 1910, reported one duck and nine drakes raised from 
one setting of eggs; while another, more under fortune's care, ap- 
parently, reports, on the very morning when I am writing this 
chapter, three drakes to nine ducks. 

One breeder suggests that beginners could more easily enter 
upon poultry culture with Indian Runners than with any variety 
of hens, because they "would meet with but few of the vexing 
problems and setbacks that would fall to their lot if they tackled 
chickens," The first requisite in handling, he says, is to get pure- 
bred Runners, "free from crossing with Pekin and other ducks." 

To speak definitely of our own experience, I may say that we 
have hatched and raised our Runners entirely with hens. E^rly in 
the season, I give not more than nine eggs to a hen. This is equal 

57 



t(' 1,-) hciis" eg<;s. A ne^t with a sod or earth l)ottom is l>est. The 
cL^i^s are supposed to liatch in 28 days, but I have had a brood all 
cut and in the coop before the end of the 28th day. The ducklings 
ie(|uire little feed the first day or two. 1 do not try to feed th-eni 
liii ihcy be!.;"ii to look for it, for they do not need it earlier. They 
>liouid ha\e water in a shallow dish so that they cannot get wet in 
it, and this means rehlling it often. The first feed is stale bread 
soaked in sweet milk, if I couldn't get th s. I think, from m>' 
present knowledge, J might feed Spratt's Duck feed, just at first. 
\lier a very few days, 1 add to the soaked bread a little bian and 
middlings, a little ground corn and oats with the hulls sifted out, 
;in(l some clean sand or fine grit, just as soon as the)- will eat it, 
I Work in succulent feed in the way of cho )ped cabbage, lettuce, rape 
oi siuiilar greens. If the green juicy stufT is not available, scalded 
eut clo\er is excellent. But something of this character is impera- 
lixe for ducks, unless they have aljundant good pasturage. I feed 
fi\e times daih' for the first few, weeks, and mix in a little sand 
once dail\ . At least one feed is of green stufif. After a few days, 
] add a little good beef scrap; the less milk the more scrap. Don't 
use scrap that smells like fertilizer. And be sure all feed is sound 
and sweet. If the milk sours, I would make it into curds and mix 
with the other ingredients, and use a little more bran in proportion. 
The ducklings are very sensitive to cold and wet for the first 
iew days of their li\es. They must have protection from storms till 
they are feathered. 1 have found them so nearly drowned by a 
>udden, hard shower that reviving them seemed liopeless. But 
drying and warming them by the kitchen range put renewed life 
into the chilled bodies, and they seemed none the worse for the 
wetting. Their recuperative powers seem to be great. They will 
reach the point where they do not need the hen sooner than will 
chicks. But they should always have some shelter to which they 
can retreat. An open shed seems to suit them admirably. 

58 



R 




A shcd-l ke house, situated on sloping land, usually open to 
ihc sun, but planned to close at night when necessary and having 
Lood litter, about covers the real needs, as to shelter, for the 
1 reeding ducks, or the layers. 

Concerning the most deeply interesting point, as to how 
ireely the Indian Runners will lay in the "off" season for hens" 
eggs, testimony varies so much as to convince me that ^t is quite a 
matter of handling. 

Mrs. Harshbarger's ducks lay during the moulling season, 
iind on into the extreme cold months. She reports 75-/o of them 
!a\ing by February 1. She states that her (large) Hock averai^ed 
' *^ eggs per duck in 108 days; also, that the eggs laid during the 
h\-e poorer months of the year will "more than ])a_\' all expenses 
of feed, shippiig baskets, printing and advertisings for the entire 
}ear." 

Mrs. Brooks's birds lay during the moult (to a lesser extent 
than in spring, of course) and she ships eggs for hatching in No- 
\ eml)er, the sparsest month of the year for hens' eggs. One 
breeder, writing in November, says: "Every mail brings reports of 
ducks from my eggs laying." 

Judge Clipp says that he' sees duck eggs in the exhibition 
coops of the Runners at midwinter (even after trying shipments). 
The early hatched may begin to lay in July, and "anybody's" will 
lay in February. Mr. Hurt says that the very slender neck, long, 
th.n body and alert carriage characterize the best layers. "The 
White Queen," the best bird I have seen in America, as regards 
genuine type, may well serve as a model for those who would fix 
the correct type firmly in mind. Compare her with Walton's ideal 
sketches, published in this country in May, 1910, and see how 
1 ttle she lacks of meeting them. She is, in fact, far more beautiful. 

Having a good, laying type, one needs to provide comfortable 
housing at night, a spot sheltered from winds during the day, and 

6o 



liberal rations, with a goodly proportion of meat. This sums up 
the matter of the egg harvest, 

I m st not, liovvever, leave any one with the impression that 
only one method ot feeding will do for Indian Runner iJucks, or 
other ducks. The methods most commonly recommended in handling 
ducks have been gleaned chieiiy from the handling of the men who 
raise them commercially, for the sake of the carcass. They are the 
methods of those who yard their ducks, and push them almost beyond 
reason when they are to go to market early. 

On the farm, especially where there is abundant room and nat- 
ural water privilege^, one may do differently. I am accustomed to a 
rough mental grouping of feeds which is easily possible to any feeder. 
It includes the starchy feeds, which are heat and fat makers, (includ- 
ing fats themselves with the fat makers, at a higher value); the muscle 
and egg makers form my second group; the green feeds, clover meals, 
vegetables, form the third. If birds are on free, good range, we need 
not think much about this third class. If not, we must make much of 
it, and use its members in large proportion. We must remember that 
grass is not the same as hay. because it is so largely water. Propor- 
tions may be roughly in one's mind, something hke one part of muscle- 
makers to two of fat and six or seven of the starchy things (which 
means, mostly, the grains in their natural state, unground and 
undivided as to food values). To produce eggs, one adds a larger pro- 
portion of the muscle-makers, like peas, beans, meat, etc. This is all 
that is necessary for a feeder to know, except whether any special feed 
ranks high as a muscle- maker or a fat maker. It is really the base 
of that far more elaborate thing called "scientific feeding". 

A very practical difficulty which meets the handlers of laying 
ducks is that, in mid-winter, the ducks, being largely night layers, 
must be in reasonably warm quarters, or the eggs will freeze. Breed- 
ers of ducks especially noted for laying should, therefore, plan foj- 

6i 



warmer housing than others find necessary. This does not mean that 
they must provide close, stuffy houses, for these will not work for tie 
good health and vigor of the stock. The best thing any one can do to 
make his shelters warm for stock of any kind is to locate them where 
they are sheltered from wind. The closer they are to shelter on the 
windward side, the warmer they will be. A second good aid toward 
the needed warmth for laying ducks, is deep, soft litter. If this occu- 
pies only such portion of the floor as will accommodate the inmates 
comfortably, they will group themselves there; as they are very partial 
to a nice bed. Thus, their bodies will keep the eggs warm, and early 
rising on the part of the handler will do the rest. 

The one who handles our ducks recently planned some very 
simple houses, which have been put up experimentally. They are 
really only deep sheds, being six feet on the front and 12 feet deep. 
The height at the front is six and one-half feet, and at the back it 
drops to 40 inches. The houses are boarded closely, and covered both 
on roof and sides with one of the commercial roofings The front is 
entirely filled by two curtains which drop against the strip binding the 
house in front, and which open flat against the roof whenever desirable 
The more they are up, the better for the birds. 

This house has been planned to meet several difficulties which 
experience showed. The door is on the side, rather close to the front. 
It is double, having an outer solid shutter and an inner frame covered 
with wire netting. The depth of the house is to permit the easy hand- 
ling of litter which I mentioned; to allow, also, feeding near the front 
on stormy days, and to protect from inblowing wet and snow. The 
curtains are of cheap muslin. A man who had used duck, which used 
to be so much recommended, told me that he thought the muslin much 
better. The duck does not permit sufficient influx of air, he said. 
Were it not for the color and weight, which darken the inner house 
somewhat, I should use loose bagging, nearly always available on the 
farm at no cost. We do use it wherever possible. 

62 



Ever since 1 have taken special interest in poultry, Mr. Hunter 
l^.as been trymg to druin it into the heads of all whom it may concern 
that the three j_oints necessary to winter eggs are early hatching, good 
"growing" and pullets for a stand-by. In similar way, I might make 
three i,o.nts for ducks; early hatching, proper feeding, comfortable 
housing. V\ ithout all these the duck will not give returns in winter. 
The ver\ word, ''returns" points to the fact that she must receive 
first Let no breeder forget this. 

Even when she has given her returns in eggs, it yet remains for 
her owner so to educate or to select his market that the cash returns 
shall be of the best This matter is one in which our southern people 
siiould be especially interested, as they have the best chance, on ac- 
count of their climate. In March, 1910, a produce reporting paper 
gave 22 and one-half to 23 cents as the lowest price for hen's eggs, 
reached up to the date of report, during that season. On the same 
date it was reported that duck eggs were beginning to move, toward 
the New York market They were classed as "Baltimore" eggs, though 
some came from Tennesses "and other western points " Baltimore 
duck eggs were reported as bringing 42c. at the same time that hens' 
eggs were bringing a cent or two more than one-half this price. 
When we have actual market reports showing what is possible in the 
line of returns from duck eggs, at least during a portion of the season, 
we do not need to guess. And I note that southern inquirers are 
plentiful, and eager Europe sent us a good many cases of eggs last 
year. Shall we not rather raise our own ? I note in certain market 
news that prices drop to "almost one half" on duck eggs, after Easter, 
But, if this one-half is even then equal to the price of hens' eggs, no 
need complain very bitterly. The market for duck eggs has to work 
itself out, but it seems to be doing very well at present. And I think 
it may be expected to improve steadily, once the Indian Runner eggs 
become known in city markets. Ignorant old New York will get them 
after a little, and learn something to her advantage ! 

63 



Some Spurious and Some 
GENUINE INDIAN RUNNERS 



CHAPTER IX 

By Mrs. Andrew Brooks. 

[Mrs. Brooks is the friend of the Indian Runner. She lives 
on a farm and knows farm needs, and she is a true fancier. 
She has done such valiant work in trying to preserve what 
^he believes to be the only "true" Indian Runners, and to introduce 
them here because of their economic value, that we have asked her 
to write something of her views of our monograph. C. S. V.] 

As Indian Runners have been in this country only a few 
years, and an unjust and misfit Standard of so-called "Perfection" 
was made for the breed, practically disqualifying true Runners and 
standardizing mongrels, the present mixed and confusing state of 
affairs is not surprising. 

In making a standard, attention should be paid to nature's 
laws. This was not done. It is an established fact that the natural 
colors of Indian Runners are fawn and white, the female having 
penciled plumage, while the drakes have cap and cheek markings of 
dull, bronzy green with rumps bronzy black or brown, turning 
dark brown or fawn when coat is old (the shade depending upon 

64 



ilie length of time that has elapsed since the molt, but never the 
same as body color). The American Standard has demanded the 
same color in both sexes, namely, "light fawn," even throughout. 
Such a standard places a premium on faking: blood foreign to the 
breed was bred in to secure light fawn color with no pencil'ng on 
])lumage of females and drakes having head and rump markings 
the same as the body color. As would be expected, this addition of 
foreign blood has brought about grave structural changes, altered 
the color of the eyes, also the color and size of the eggs, besides les- 
sening the number of eggs. The chief value of the Indian Runners 
lies in their capacity to be veritable egg-factories of large, white, 
marketable eggs. As layers of such eggs, and as foragers, the 
Standard hit them hardest, requiring wrong posit'on of legs, de- 
stroying the characteristic Runner gait and making less able forag- 
ers of them. The new Standard may possibly be an improvement 
«>ver the old one in some respects, but I understand that it demands 
the brown eyes, which have been acquired in making over the breed 
lo conform to standard requirements, and to produce the recpiired 
color of plumage. ' A shade in color of feathers would not much 
matter but it should not be gained at the sacrifice of utility value. 
Longfellow in The Builders said: 

"Nothing useless is or low 
'^' Each thing in its place is best ; 
And what seems but idle show 

Strengthens and supports the rest." 

This applies to fancy and commercial poultry; for, it should 
be remembered that the whole poultry industry is a structure rest- 
ing upon the "firm and ample" foundations of economic value. 
If we tear this down and destroy utility, how long will the industry 
survive? 

I have had much correspondence with Indian Runner breed- 
ers in all parts of the United States and all their testimony proves 

6s 



the same thing, viz., that eggs from the light fawn American Stand- 
r.rd-bred ducks are laid in fewer numbers ; such stock does not be- 
gin to lay so early in the season by some weeks ; also ceases lay- 
ing earlier in the fall : while true Runners do not cease entirely, 
even during the moult, as I can testify from experience. A worse 
fault, in the light fawn ducks, is that they mostly lay green or 
tinted eggs of smaller size, that do not sell for so much. Our best 
markets call for white eggs, and owing to their mixed parentage 
these light fawns cannot reproduce themselves reliably. All m}' 
correspondents tell the same story of sending for eggs at high 
jirices (naming the most i^romint-nt breeders;) of getting green or 
tinted or mi.xed colors of eggs that produce ducklings which sho^\' 
lack of uniformity, some 1)eing mostly yellow, some I'ght and some 
(lark. One man wrote: "1 want to acquire a flock of genuine 
linglish Runners that will be second to none. I have had enough 
of mongrels...! want a duck that will lay white eggs and plenty 
of them and reproduce themselves in type and markings, instearl 
of the young looking like they were the result of mixing half a 
dozen widely different breeds. I'm sick and disgusted with my 
Inimiliating experience with .Standard Indian Runners. I have them 
that were hatched from eggs from ducks claimed to score 96 points 
and there is not one closer to the Indian Runner Standard than is a 
Rouen." Another, late in the season said he had spent weeks in 
trying to find eggs from tlocks guaranteed to lay only white eggs 
and had not discovered one such flock. He judged by the discus- 
sion which he read in the papers about the Standard that I must 
have them, and added: "For heaven's sake don't say you have 
all the orders you can fill." One inquirer asks: "Will you fur- 
nish ducks that are guaranteed to lay white eggs only, or money 
refunded?" It is a significant fact that most of such inquiries 
come from the midst of the country where the light fawns are most 
extensively bred. Another writer, who met with disappointment 

67 



in tryiiit; to breed the American Standard, wrote of buying the 
Mightst priced birds the most prominent "l;ght fawn" breeder 
would sell, keeping them side by side with real Runners with the 
same care and feeding, only to find that they were not so valuable 
;;s the ducks they were trying to displace, as they were so much 
poorer layers, and of tinted eggs. Hundreds of ducks lay ng green 
uv tinted eggs are kept in some fiocks. The eggs are scattered 
:)roadcast all over the country to purchasers who believe that they 
;;re buying Runners, innocently supposing that "Runners are Run- 
ners," and not knowing that there are imitations of the real article, 
w iiich are sold as genu'ne. I'his is only a faint picture of the 
■ilualion. No wonder that true Ixunners are scarce and higli 
]iriced. 

Who can count the cost of the harm d(jne? It is beyond 
com utation. The fancy and the utility should go to[^elher, l)ut 
as matters now stand prospective buyers will have to decide 
whether they will bretd for show and fancy re(|u rements or whether' 
they want the most valual)le, jiractical duck from the utility point' 
I if \iew. the ones giving best money \alue. For us, we will concede 
Standard excellence (?) to the fanciers; they are welcome to the 
duck the}' have created ! Theirs will answer for exhibition pur- 
];oses, as judges must place awards according to Standard. We 
will concern ourselves with maintaining the breed in its highest 
type and purity for the farmer and utility breeder. Runnes are nre- 
(.minentl}' the farmers' breed. They are at their best on the free 
i.-Mii'e of the farms, as they get along with less care than hens. 
They are what the farmers need in these days of high priced labor, 
ivunners will lay as many eggs as the best breeds of hens. No 
other breed of ducks will lay so many white eggs; none are such 
foragers, or so capable of gaining a large share of their Kving, thus 
reducing the cost of feed, and they adapt themselves well to ad- 
\ ersc corditions. In the eighth annual Australian Laying com;)e- 

68 



lition two pens of Runners averaged above 200 eggs each. As no 
meat was obtainable, no an'mal food was fed in their ration dur- 
ing the time of the test. What hens fed in like manner could have 
made so good a showing? Meat or animal food is even more neces- 
^ary for ducks than for hens. When given free range they find 
much, of it for themselves, working as they do, busy 
as bees from morning till late at night (stormy days the same or 
more so) thrusting their bills deep into the grass, searching for 
worms or insects. Nothing escapes their notice! A farmer who 
i- a near neighbor of ours has six Runners, yearlings. Now, in the 
latter part of November he is receiving 4 or 5 eggs every day and 
feeds them only corn ; no mash at all. .As they have free range, I 
suppose the> lialance their own ration. They are kept dry-bedded 
;;i night : the first essential in raising ducks. Early hatched young 
ducks or- yearlings, or older birds, if managed right, will lay as well 
or better than hens, in the fall when prices are high and eggs most 
j'ppreciated. I know personally that, with such care as the average 
farmer can give, they will give flock averages of 150 eggs each in a 
\ear. The results of the annual duck laying competitions in Aus- 
tralia are very interesting and instructive, but I am not so much 
concerned with the records of such tests or the records of individual 
iavers, as I am in the flock averages of these ducks, when well man- 
?<ged on the free range of the farms or in the hands of the utility 
poultry breeder. The labor question is getting to be a serious one, 
but the ducks help to solve it, as they are more easily cared for 
than hens. They are not troubled with lice nor mites, so that there 
are no houses to spray nor roosts to grease, no frozen combs to 
treat, no dropping boards to scrape ofT, no scratching up of gardens 
nor fiying into grain bins. Nor is there need for so many males 
as are needed with the larger breeds: one male being sufficient for 
ten or more females on free range. They can be housed very 
cheaply; fences cost less when the ducks have to be yarded, as low 

69 



fences will hold them; when matured, they eat no mure than hens. 
It is also less work to raise the young stock since the\' grow up so 
quickly. The 3^oung ones may be brought into laying at five months 
of age, and eggs s-ell for more than hens' eggs. As the call has 
been so great for hatching eggs I sell at market only a portion of 
the time, but I have sold enough to know that eggs will sell f<»r 
five to six cents per dozen more than hens' eggs. Ha\e shipped to 
?. commission dealer in New York for the month before Easter 
when I received from 18 to 20 cents per dozen more than I received 
for hens' eggs. I learned that after Easter commission men pay 
a premium of five cents per dozen more than they pay for Leghorn 
eggs. They may be packed in one side of case b}' themselves if 
there are not sufficient to fill the case. 

Runners are so valuable for layers that they are not sold to 
any extent at market for the table. But the surplus males find 
sale at good prices, the meat being so tender and delicious. It 's 
really in a class by itself, as it has such rich, gamy flavor. Since 
they grow up so quickly and cost less to feed than Pekins there is 
no reason why enterprising poultrymen cannot build up a good 
irade for them as market ducks. 



70 



The Future of the 
INDIAN RUNNERS IN AMERICA 



CHAPTER X 

There is no question, I think, that at the present writing, (alter 
the last meeting of the Revision Committee in 1910), the majority 
i)f the fanciers of the c(juntry favor the plain, fawn type that has 
i)een conxicted of lading so many green eggs (showing impurity, 
Mr. Jaeger says!) It could hardly be otherwise, indeed, since the 
Standard has demanded for some years back, that only such birds 
should be bred. Of course, all but the independent thinkers fol- 
lowed Ike sheep, whatever the Standard demanded, whether it 
meant a good Indian Runner, or not. And, I have no doubt that 
most of them have taught themselves to admire the plain feathers 
most, in the Indian Runner, even if they did not do so at first. Yet, 
the very same breeders would go into raptures over a Cornish In- 
ilian hen if she showed extra good penciling! Many' of these breed- 
ers are so inconsistent as to argue for the greater beauty of the 
plain Runner, when it is a well-known fact that pencilings, lacings, 
and the like have given all the more distinctive beauty to our won- 
derfully varied breeds of the ornamental types among our domestic 
fowls. Those distinctively known as "ornamental" (therefore es- 



pecially beautiful, of course) are the ones that show most variation 
in colors and markings. The plain are simply — well, plain, and that 
is all there is to it. 

Many of the judges, I am told, have Indian Runners. I can 
name several whom I know to breed them. Of course, they have 
exceptional opportunities to get good, Standard birds, and it would 
l)e too much to expect of human nature that all these people should 
now be willing to have a differing bird made Standard, off hand, 
no matter if it is the true, original Runner, and a better, economic 
bird. 

There were, in a dozen of the best poultry papers, during the 
Iieight of the 1910 season, something like 160 breeders ad\ertising 
Indian Runners, virtually all claiming the "true" type, lliose of 
the plain-feather camp, meant "true to American Standard." Those 
who bred the original Runner, meant "true to the English Standard 
type," though I fancy most of them have tried to lighten the color 
as to make the pencilings rather indistinct. Indeed indistinct pen- 
ciling is what the English Standard calls for. 

The content of "truth" in the Indian Runner of the future 
should be incontestably large, ^ since there is so much variation, yet 
all "true." It is also true that variation is likely to continue. 
Among all the breeders whom I know to have carr'ed the English 
type, the large majority have announced their intention of keeping 
to that type, regardless of what the American Standard for fanc}' 
fowls may be. The chief, economic reasons which they give are : 
the better laying of the English type ; and, the white eggs. The 
promise is, then, that there will continue to be bred in this cOiintr}^ 
two types of Indian Runner, differing from each other really more 
than the white Orpington, say, differs from the white Plymouth 
Rock. Both will claim to be "true," and the confusion that will 
result will !»f' intensified as numbers increase. 

This- r'<"ans that it behooves every one who wants Indian 

72 



Runners, no matter of which type, to inform himself thoroughly as 
to the differences in the two types, and to be very sure that he 
buys of a breeder who has what he wants. The two types have 
been bred together, which of course makes more confusion. The 
oldest of the breeders here of the English type sold birds, years ago, 
to the chief promoters of the American Standard type of to-day. 
Very many breeders have tried both types. Perhaps a dozen of 
ihem have written of their experiences in the poultry papers. Of 
them all, I think only one has reported that the American type 
were the l^etter lay-ers. All the others stated that, when handled 
side by side, the EngTsh type were the better layers. 

I am not for a mimite in opposition to those who really want 
1() breed the Runner of the American, Standard t\pe. What I do 
want, is to make sure that the farmers who are to supj)ly the great 
majority of buyers of Indian Runner eggs for hatching, for some 
years at least, shall get the type of bird that will prove most prac- 
tical. They will stand, to a man, for the white-egg type, I am 
certain. They will also stand for the English type strongly when 
ihey are made to know that it calls for a bird with longer body, and 
iherefore with more egg and meat capacity. Even the Secretary 
of the National Indian Runner Club said publicly (June. 1910) : 
'*If we lower the type and egg production by having them fawn and 
white, we certainly should have a different Standard." 

When we think of the best English Indian Runners, a yard 
long from tip of bill to tip of tail, and compare them, mentally, with 
the runty, American Standard type too often shown, it is easy to see 
why the breeders to American Standard fight against having the 
Standard weight raised. Many of the pictures of the American type 
show a bird with neck about as long as body, not including tail, the 
body being short and stumpy at the stern like the one at the right in 
our cut of the American Standard-bred males. Often the stern is so 
stumpy that it gives a peculiar impression of being "out of drawing 

73 



someway,' as atl artist woiild say. It does not balance gracefully. The 
effect of having ^heleg^'s^^t:'§o far back in order to-^et tht running 
balance, and then tuckiiVg'the stei-n up So stumpily, is 'indeed, un- 
graceful^ in the extreme.' The" e^idh'ibitibil birds shown "in "contrast 
io the charming graceful white R'uniier, are from some of the most 
prominent breeders' of the 'Ahierican type of Runner. Neither in 
shape nor in cat-riage can they compare, \vitlf really good Indian 
Runnei^s'. ' 

If each breeder will have the cburage of his convictions, and 
adveirtise plainly what he has, it will save much Corifuslbn for buy- 
ers, and an imrnense amount of <iisf^arag^'merit of T'ndian Runner 
breeders. At the present writing, there are plenty of buyers for 
both types. A short time ago, I received an inquiry for "first' 
class fawn iand white stock." Believing that this custbriVer wanted 
tne Ariieritan type, T answered' briefly, telling him that the English 
type of Runner which I carried, wbuld''nbt'wih' firsts for him i 
any large show, uiider presetit Standafd demands. To my surprise, 
back came a' letter wanting my" birds, the price being the same as 
would have been asked for.tlie' s^me grade of btrds 'bred to Ameri- 
cah'^tarldai'd. ■" ' ■P-^--<l^'^ ■ ' ' ' ' 

It is scarcely possible,' I think, to insist too strongly that those 
wno berieve' in trie Indiari' Runner as bred to the specific,' English 
Standard, should make cle^r in edch advertisement, just what they 
are offering. Only in this way, can we avoid the infinite confusion 
which is likely to' arise. ' '" •"' ■ '" «*>'■' 

Personally, I think it wot!ild 'be only jUst if cfasse's sfioufd be 
made, at lea:st ih all the largei^ shows, for the Ertglrsh-bred duck, 
it would be ^he onlv amende that could be made for having taken 
the breed ham€ away fi'dm this' duck and given it to a mongrel- 
made' duck. 'It' is perfectly practicable, as I see it, to have classes 
for tlie English type, and judged by the English Standard. 
"" ';\sl Write the' clbsing words of this chapter, there comes to 

?■'■ 74 



my desk a new booklet from a breeder of the "fawn and white'" 
tpye for the last six years. Referring to the Runners of the Ameri- 
can type, he mentions their "real value as a layer of large, green 
and white eggs of much value." He also states that he would 
j.'refer all white eggs. Inasmuch as this testimony comes from tlie 
midst of the **favvn and white" camp, surely none who breed the 
English type can be accused of unfairness or of bias in making simi- 
lar statements. And for their own trade, they need only to mike it 
ividely known that they have the strain known to lay white eggs, 
and trade will run to meet them. 



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7$ 



Indian Runners Ducks and 
FARM BREEDING 



CHAPTER XI 

A letter concerning Indian Runners which came to me in De- 
cemb'^r, 1910, saysi^'I've tried several breeders in the north and south 
to tind one who bred the white-egg duck. One, I believed, and parted 
with my money, only to discover that I had bought "green" ducks. 
The breeder claimed she could fill my demand, as both parents and 
grandparents, for that matter, were hatched from white eggs " 

Another farmer, who does a business large enough to run about 
1200 eggs in incubators through April, and who has recently made a 
start with English-bred Runners, says: "I have picked out six females, 
all marked alike, fawn with concentric penciling, and will reserve same 
for our own breeding. Our females are well taken care of and with 
good care and attention to them I am looking for a great egg yield. I 
am going to write up a piece to have published later about a farmer's 
experience with Indian l^unners. and I hope it will have weight with 
that class. For if the average farmer can get eggs in winter from the 
Runners when their hens do not lay. \ou can rest assured thev will 
have some '' 

Because I see no future Ijefore the Indian Runner, eventually, 
except as a farm duck, I am especially glad to get the farm point of 

76 



view. The ..bove letter was seat on to me by a breeder in another 
state, that I might see how farm interest was developing. It will be 
njted that, although the writer carries far more than the average of 
poultry on a f.,rm, as evidenced by his incubating so many eggs, he is 
looking for something that can do better in winter than is customary 
with he.iS. He is of the better claSo of farmers, v»e can guess, because 
he selects uniformly m..rked b.r.^.s for breeding. He has enterprise, as 
is shown b}- ti.e facts note 1, and by his plan to write up his experience 
where it will attract oti.er farmers. Beyond what his letter may thus 
sh(jw us, 1 know nothing aboat him. But I wish the country was ful- 
ler than it is of farmers with several of the characteristics which show 
in this letter. However, dealing continually, in my work with queries 
from farmers all over ti.e country, I can testify that there are many 
more of the class who have enterprise, education and good hard sense 
than people who do not come into touch with them are ready to be- 
lieve. 

There are already many types of Indian Runners in the country, 
entirely aside from the two very distinct and opposing ones to which 
so much reference has already been made. It is almost impossible for 
any breeder to put his hand to a breed without transforming it to some 
extent. This is abundantly shown even in the references to the 
"strains" of different breeders, and to the differing claims made by 
advertisers. How are these changes made ? Often- very often, by 
"hocus-pocus." That is, by putting in a dash of any blood which a 
breeder may think will bring the birds nearer to his ideal— usually an 
ideal as to feathers and form, rather than as to production. Produc- 
tion cannot be ignored, to be sure, but it is made to take at least third 
place; for color comes first with the average fancier, then form, then, 
if he has no other hobby to work out, production, possibly. 

But it is also true that no two breeders can take even the same 
strain, with birds very similar, and, working enterely apart, show the 
same type of birds at the end of five years. Each puts his own stamp 

77 



upon.the breeds or variety. It may be that all the change has been 
made by selection of eggs. It may berthat it has be'en. made only in 

the selection Of birds to carry on his work. The fact remains that each' 

worker is practically certain to put his own special stamp "his mark" 
upon the birds which he will soon call his "strain " 

A breeder who was especially anxious to. preserve and continue 
a certain type, wrote another for birds of that type, to be descended 
from birds sent out from the yaras of the first, some years earlier. It 
was made plain that onlyisuch birds were wanted. The testimony of 
the first breeder to the outcome is as follows: "I asked, before order- 
ing, if they were just as had of me, and in return the breeder wrote 
that they were my strain, pure (with the words underlined). When 
they came and I examined them, I could see that other blood had been 
used; the pencihng was different, not so distinct, of a prettier shade of 
fawn.; if anything:; but they were hardly as good in shape and style, 
and I was in a panic. I thought I would return them, but finally sold 
most of them-, telling the customers just what tliey were. The remain- 
ing suspects I shall put iiii.a yard by the/nselves and observe them.'.' 
Eventually, it came out that the breeder from whom these ducks came 
had had one male from a third breeder running with the females of the 
fifstc breeder's stock;' There was no suspicion of intentional error, as 
far;as I know, for breeder number two was considered honest; but the 
incident shows both how soon change of strain shows in the progeny, 
and how difficultit is to get just what one wants and definitely orders. 
Human nature seems to have a strangely transforming effect on varie- 
ties of fowls ! . ., 1 •,' ■■■}.:U:,:A 0:i H:.~. .jiiir 

• •;".:;'.■ Ja4teib*eeder who had had fawn ducks Of. two types, from two 
breeders-, wrote me: "I am satisfied that I hurt the laying qualities 
by use of the light strain, (the second lot)." Both these acquisit'ons 
proving to be layers of green eggs, this. breeder bought birds again, the 
third lot being from" a' well-known white^egg strain/ Another change 
'then made itself manifest, of which he writes: (' "My: -olid' ducks coiild 

7S 



not aiid woul'd not fly u-nder any circumstances like the last onesi One 
is far ahead of any I have ever seei"f in upright carriage, and I would 
like to get all of mine Of "that type." 

:;. There is ohepointer here that-te-woFth noting. The white egg 
ducks are of the more active type, and also of better carriage than 
ahytiiing furnished this Ireeder -by two of the very best breeders of 
the sdlid f^wn strains ' '■''^'' . " 

Being a very honest man, th^- writer of this letter wasanXioUs 
to know about the tendency to flying fe Be I'lfSE he had told 'cu^td'mers 
that a two-foot fence would confinfe'these clucks I chanced tb haVe a 
personal word to add to the solution of this problem, becaiise I had 
bred for some time the very strain he reported a:s being' such flyers, 
and had never used anything but a two-foot fence to confine them, 
nor ever known them ta fly over it. But it is perfectly 'easy to- train 
these birds, or any other.s, to be breachy, by using fences too low or 
too weak when the birds are young and most active. The size of 
Vards, too,''irlay have an influence' on this especial -eharacteristic. 
Small yards, which ofTer no good' starting point for -stfong flight; Will 
often confine th6 biMs— any birds— fliu'ch better tha?i larger yards. 
Tlia't is, not sucK' higii fences will be 'demanded. It is in the daily and 
Vearly learning Bf such things as 'these'' as they come along, that any 
poultry faiser ^ets' "knack" and accumulates a store' of wisdom on 
intiumersLbfe' points WHth it is simply impbssible to pass on in entirety 
to any other worker. 'T't'i's one point at a time usually. .• 

Just' before We go ^ to press with "The Indian Runiier Duck 
Book," an authoritative letter from' England ife received. It tells of 
many itiquiHte for cheap birds coming from America and says: "There 
is rio one with real good type birds willing to sell at utility prices. In 
fact, I have seeil l')irds for Which ten to tWenty pounds (about fifty to 
one hundred dollars) was asked, of very bad tj^pe and carriage; in my 
opinion, fit only foi' thfe j)ot. I think it unfair to ask those who have 
really ^ood birds t6 sell 'them for killing prices, almost." Concerning 

79 



one of the newer American theories as to the origin of Indian Runners, 
the same breeder says: "It is worth framing, as it is one of the most 
incorrect and ridiculous articles I have see:i, and the writer is entirely 
at sea. 'The Common Mongrel, etc.,' would have been a more appro- 
priate title." 

In this connection, I may say that there is a movement in Eng- 
land at this writing which promises to develop into the publicatio i of 
a thorough and reliable book on the Indian Runner, giving all that is 
now known about its history, from the first to the present time. This 
is certainly a movement in the right direction, and I shall look with 
much interest for the purposed publication. 

The Patent Office at Washington has recently been showing 
symptoms of interest in the Runners, through an employe. Whether 
they are to be patented, or not, is not yet announced. If so, many 
breeders will be on edge to learn which type will thus receive recog- 
nition ! 

In other directions, also, matters are moving. I think it was 
late in 1910, though I am not quite certain as to the date, that a 
breeder in the east sent a trio of English-bred Indian Runners to the 
Government Experiment Station of Porto Rico, for experimental pur- 
poses. It is quite time some one in authority was doing something 
with these ducks, on this side of the Atlantic ocean. For, if the things 
which Indian Runner breeders have been saying have been untrue, 
they would result in uncounted waste of money for the thousands of 
farmers who will try them. Whereas, if they can be proved true by 
some of those in whom the farming coitiigent have coiifideice, it will 
mean hundreds of thousands of dollars for the farmer's pockets. We 
know positively that breeders in this country, even women on the 
farms, are making hundreds of dollars from their Indian Runners each 
year. On the date of January 26, 191 1, I received a circular from one 
such woman, claiming that her ducks were made to average over ten 
dollars each in eight months. It is not likely that this was from 

So 



market eggs, however. The crying need -at present is for some Exper- 
iment Station here to make an exhaustive test of both types of Indian 
Runners for the benefit of the American farmer, on the market egg 
basis. 

Austraha and New Zealand are far ahead of us in the things 
thev do for the benefit of the farming population and the common 
people at large. But, as these matters depend largely on the common 
people's vote, it may be said that they are the ones chiefly to blame 
for what they do not get. The average man does not even know what 
his government is trying to do for him. And the Government is usu- 
ally far more anxious to do something for him than he is to have 
things done, if we may judge by what is on the surface. Professors of 
Poultry Husbandry, for instance, are jubilant when they succeed, by 
all the arts at their command, in getting the names of many farmers. 
This is just because they know the Station can help the farmers, as 
soon as it gets into touch with them. And the best help must come 
through work with the farmers, man by man. In the matter of choice 
of type in the Indian Runner, I am in a position to know that our 
Agricultural authorities at Washington deliberately threw aside a 
chance to do something for the farming people in studying the two 
warring types of the Indian Runner. They assumed that the fanciers 
were right in breeding to fawn, simply because the fawn contingent was 
in the majority and slavishly followed the Standard, As an interest- 
ing commentary on this, a disgusted word from one who has bred 
Indian Runners for years fits in as nothing else could. He was en- 
gaged in the practical job of catching birds to fill a shipment and for 
his own breeding pens. Color study was, of course, a main feature in 
O. K.-ing, or discarding specimens, and, as is always the case, many 
birds that looked well on their feet had to be rated as seconds on ac- 
count of fawn in the flight feathers. I happened to be looking on, 
and heard his dictum: "Color in Indian Runners is nothing but a 
humbug anyway, for they change color every two months. How are 

3i 



you going to describe the color fairly when that is the case ? It is out 
of the question ! And who is going to say which is the right color, 
that of December, or of March or of June ? " It struck me that this 
was as pungent a comment on the folly of ruining the distinctiveness 
of the Indian Runner (because some one happened to think fawn in 
solid color was more desirable than any two shades of fawn penciled 
together might be) as could possibly be made. The question must 
always be, Which of the varying shades of fawn is Standard fawn, and 
when shall the bird be judged on color, —in winter or in summer ? If 
in summer, or spring, is must be far too dark in December; if in De- 
cember it is to be just right, it will be nothing but dirty white in June. 
And this everybody knows. 

I saw two breeders selecting a bird to fill an order that called 
for a high class specimen. The choice lay between two birds, one of 
which was nearly perfect in color, but was only moderately long in 
body and neck. The other was of beautiful shape and carriage, but 
had a flaw in the wing flight. "Which would you send ? Which 
would you rather have if you were choosing for your own yard ? " said 
one to the other. "The slim, long bird, every time," was the reply. 
"What, — sure ! even with the flawed wing, and remembering that it 
will affect the whole flock ? " "Yes; even at that. I stand for type 
first." "But what about shipping it to a customer? Would you de- 
cide on that one to fill the order ? " "No-o, I'm afraid not," was the 
half unwilling reply. "The customer will be better satisfied with the 
bird that is better in color." 

All who have bred Rtmners long know this to be the case; and 
the reason is that, though Standard law, as generally applied, theoret- 
ically puts shape above color, in actual practice, color, (when at all 
hard to get) virtually takes precedence of type, as the birds are judged 
in competition. And this is what every breeder of Standard birds has 
to meet. He dares not send what he believes to be the better bird, 
many times, because custom has over-ridden Standard Law. The very 

82 



simple reason is, doubtless, that color appeals far more quickly to the 
average person, than does shape. Many a breeder of years standing, 
cannot select the birds typical in shape and style. And the pubhc, 
which sees the shows and which buys stock, is more easily satisfied 
with the better colored bird, when it becomes a choice between color 
and shape, unless the shape is inexcusably bad. 



&3 



The Newer Variety 
THE WHITE INDIAN RUNNER 



CHAPTER XII 

The future of the Indian Runners is bound to inckide the 
\ ariety just coming into sight here, viz., the White Indian Runners. 
Though but recently advertised for the first in this country, the 
White Indian Runners promise to interest the public at large so 
greatly that a few words must be given them even now. In Cali- 
fornia, in the middle-west, in the middle states, they are already 
being advertised. One cannot say much that is definite about 
their quality, as it is likely, it seems to me, to be exceedingly 
"spotty" for some time. 

My reasons for thinking thus V.e largely in the fact that the 
very evident crossing of some of the original importations of Indian 
Runners with white ducks has resulted in the badly-m'xed speci- 
mens, showing much broken white, of which buyers of Indian 
Runners have complained so bitterly recently. There cannot br; 
much doubt that the majority of White Indian Runners have arisen 
through some of these crosses. The most likely cross is that of the 
White Fekin duck. I saw Pekins in a recent very large show, that 

84 



■ 






a^ '" ' . ' 


i 


^ 







"THE WHITE QUEEN." 
Peiha[>s the most perfect type of Indian Runner Duck ever produced in Ameriac 



were as iiprii^lu in carriage as almost any of the Runners, and one 
sjiecimen in especial that was fully as erect in carriage as any In- 
dian Runner 1 have ever seen shown. As the Revision Committee's 
lecomm.cndation at St. Louis was for a body one-fourth longer than 
ihc ideal presented them by the artist, and a clean-cut throat with- 
nut dewlap, the Pekin will be even better than in the past, as a 
])ri^»mising foundation 'for a cross leading to White Indian Runners. 
A Runner built on such a foundation would be too broad and thick- 
set, for many generations, no doubt ; but human nature is such that 
it would doubtless be used, in the future; as it has in the past, if 
pointers from experience can be at all relied upon. 

I wish to call especial attention to the cut of a White Indian 
Kunner female given herewith. It is by far the most typical speci- 
men tif the Ideal Indian Runner, that I have ever seen. This bird 
is, nu)rcover, a straight sport, as far as anything I really know can 
show. 1 do know that no white blood has been introduced into 
her ancestry since it came into my hands, some years ago. Other 
breeding experience would make any of us argue that there must 
lie white blood somewhere behind her. As to proof, — there is none, 
; lid the testimony of her beautiful shape seems to throw the Pekin 
out of consideration, unless, by some trick of iNIendel's law, we 
have a dominant white from the Pekin, in connection with a domi- 
nant shape from a Runner ancestor. But I think Mendel's law, as 
l;e v\(iuld have had it applied, is being more questioned now than ever 
))efore since Professor Bateson brought it to our notice. That is, the 
nianv investigation experiments, in the effort to prove it a breeding 
iaw, seem to show it less helpful generally in breeding than was at 
tirst expected. 

These White Indian Runners are not an absolutely new prod- 
uct except in possible specific cases. iMr. H. DeCourcy, speaking 
of the Runners as they appeared in Ireland some years ago, wrote, in 
the "Reliable Poultry Journal" that the Runners had been bred for 

86 



several years by farmers with no regard to type and feathering. "S'et 
he states that the distinctive features cf the bird were so fixed that 
they still tended to dominate. I notice that he refers to the "car- 
riage" as penguin-like, not making the blunder of the American 1905 
Standard in saying that the form is like the pengin, which lis posi- 
tively absurd ! 

He speaks of three distinct varieties at the time of writing, 
known in Ireland, and says that the penciled fawn and white — "a 
beautifully-penciled fawn color," as he describes it — "certainly has a 
distinctive shape and carriage which the other varieties possess but 
in a modified form, and it is most probable that both the Brown-and- 
White and the White varieties have been bred from the original 
Fawn-and-White, either by the admixture of foreign blood, or bv 
selection, or by both." 

This testimony must'be considered by any fair mind aS abso- 
lutely unbiased, because it was given before our Standard-makers 
discovered that the plain fawn, with white, was "the one and onlv 
true." It was published in this country before there was any question 
of breeding to a solid fawn as far as our Standard was concerned ; 
though our Standard was fitted to some sports in the hands of a 
single breeder, — if I am correctly informed, — .soon after. 

The white bird, everywhere and always, is a popular bird. 
And, as soon as the public is assured that it breeds true in anv 
measure, we may look for a strong movement toward the White 
Runner. Some pretty good specimens w^ere shown in New York in 
,November, 1910. 



87 




ROSE COMB BROWN LEGHORN MALE 

Incian Runner Drakes compare with Brown Leghorn Males in 
vigor. Both make unequalled sweet young Roasters. 




ROSE COMB BROWN LEGHORN FEMALE AND CARCASS 

Indian Runner Ducks compare with Leghorn Hens for j^reat 



laying. 



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